Alliance Defending Freedom(ADF) revealed an $80,000 settlement with Southern Illinois University after college student Maggie DeJong submitted a claim, DeJong v Pembrook, declaring the organization penalized her for her outspoken conservative views.
The efforts to silence her consisted of “no-contact orders” versus her and motivating her peers at the university to report her for “damaging rhetoric.”
According to a news release from ADF:
While a college student in SIUE’s Art Therapy program, DeJong, like lots of other trainees, published products to her social networks accounts, sent out messages to fellow trainees, and participated in class conversations on a selection of subjects, consisting of faith, politics, vital race theory, COVID-19 guidelines, and censorship. Since DeJong’s views– notified by her Christian faith and political position– frequently varied from those of other trainees in the art treatment program, numerous of her fellow trainees reported her speech to university authorities. In February 2022, those authorities provided no-contact orders versus DeJong, restricting her from having “any contact” and even “indirect interaction” with 3 fellow college student who grumbled that her expression of spiritual and political perspectives made up “harassment” and “discrimination.”
Two weeks after getting a letter from ADF notifying the university that suppressing DeJong’s speech based upon her perspective is unconstitutional, authorities lastly revealed the products underlying the no-contact orders and associated examination. That exact same day, the university closed its unwarranted examination of DeJong, however not prior to breaching her First Amendment rights and tainting her credibility since of her beliefs. As part of the settlement arrangement, university authorities accepted modify their policies to guarantee trainees have substantive and procedural securities from no-contact orders so no other trainee will need to withstand the illegal treatment DeJong experienced.
ADF lawyer Mathew Hoffmann stated of the win, “Public universities can’t penalize trainees for revealing their political and spiritual perspectives. Maggie, like every other trainee, is safeguarded under the First Amendment to respectfully share her individual beliefs, and university authorities were incorrect to provide gag orders and silence her speech.”
ADF lawyers will likewise carry out a First Amendment training session with 3 teachers at SIU as part of the settlement.
DeJong signed up with Fox News to talk about the triumph.
The post Victory: Southern Illinois University to Pay for Silencing Conservative Views appeared initially on The Gateway Pundit
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