Court halts university's 'harassment policy' pending free speech lawsuit
A District Court in Texas granted a preliminary injunction that prevents the University of Houston from enforcing its harassment policy.
Speech First v. Khator et al. will be decided by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
A U.S District Court in Texas granted a preliminary injunction on Monday that prohibits the University of Houston (UH) from enforcing a “harassment policy” that could be misconstrued to violate free speech.
”This is another huge victory for students in Texas,” said Speech First Executive Director Cherise Trump in a press release. “The court’s ruling sends a clear message to all universities that restrictions on student speech will not be tolerated simply because listeners find certain ideas to be offensive or controversial.”
[RELATED: Virginia Tech faces new lawsuit over alleged free speech violations]
The preliminary injunction will prohibit UH from enforcing the policy until after the court delivers its final ruling.
The case was brought by the nonprofit organization Speech First in February.
Speech First v. Khator et al. will be decided by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Speech First, a nonprofit organization that protects First Amendment rights on American college campuses, alleges that UH’s imposed “harassment policy” was “unconstitutionally broad” and could use viewpoint discrimination to “punish speech.”
According to the organization, the policy gave the university the right to publish speech both on and off campus, as well as on social media. Harassment was defined as an all-encompassing term that included “denigrating jokes” and “negative stereotyping.”
Speech First is arguing this policy could be lopsidedly applied to crack down on conservative speech.
”The University’s policy subjects students to formal discipline for ‘harassment’ for merely expressing mainstream conservative opinions that other students find objectionable,” Trump’s statement continued.
Free speech infringements are an increasing problem on college campuses across the country as 80% of college students reportedly refrain from expressing their opinions for fear of being criticized by peers or faculty, according to a survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
”Speech First will likely succeed on the merits because the original policy does not comport with the standard adopted by the Supreme Court,” the injunction noted.
UH initially denied the potential violation to Campus Reform and accused Speech First of misreading the policy.
Campus Reform contacted Speech First for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
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