Instructor fired for protesting gets libertarian aid

Libertarian advocates defend professor who was fired for protesting conservative student group – TheBlaze - Sara Gonzelez:

December 19, 2017 - "University of Nebraska-Lincoln [UNL] graduate instructor Courtney Lawton became a minor internet sensation earlier this year when members of the conservative student organization, TurningPoint USA, posted video of her peacefully protesting one of their recruiting events.

"Now, Lawton claims that she has been fired by the university, and with the help of prominent libertarian free speech activists, she’s fighting back.

"In the video, Lawton can be seen holding a sign that says 'Say no to neo-fascism' and verbally criticizing both TPUSA and the recruiters who were present. At one point, Lawton flips off the person holding the camera. The video did not indicate that any violence or threats of violence occurred....

"When video of the confrontation was posted online by TPUSA, the school was bombarded with emails and threats.

"Lawton was removed from the classroom effective Sept. 1 and was informed that her contract would not be renewed.... In a statement released to libertarian free speech organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education [FIRE], UNL claimed that Lawton was released because she failed to meet the university’s 'expectations for civility.'

"In an email to popular libertarian blog Reason, however, Lawton claims that the school gave her contradictory reasons for her termination. Lawton claims that she was initially told that her removal was due to 'safety concerns for students' but later was told in a follow-up meeting that she was being removed from the classroom because her presence would be 'too disruptive to students'....

"Both FIRE and Reason have responded to the university, arguing that the policy under which Lawton was dismissed was unconstitutionally vague. Additionally, ... FIRE argued that Lawton’s speech was constitutionally protected under the First Amendment and that her termination was unconstitutional....

"FIRE has filed lawsuits on behalf of students and professors in order to preserve free speech on campus. It is not clear if FIRE intends to file a lawsuit against the university if it does not respond in a timely manner."

Read more: http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/12/19/libertarian-advocates-defend-professor-who-was-fired-for-protesting-conservative-student-group
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American U cancels YAL meeting event

My Alma Mater American University Cancelled My Title IX 'Hate Speech' Panel - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Elizabeth Nolan Brown:

September 29, 2107 - "I was supposed to participate in a panel at my alma mater, American University, on feminism, free speech, and Title IX.... But in the days leading up to the event, the AU chapter of American Association of University Women organized a campaign to 'Keep Our Campus Safe,' describing the panel as 'hate speech' and 'violence'....

"The panel was put together by spiked as part of its "Unsafe Space" tour.... The event on American's D.C. campus was to kick off the tour, with me, spiked's Ella Whelan, former ACLU chief Nadine Strossen, and Foundation for Individual Rights in Education director Robert Shibley on a panel moderated by spiked Deputy Editor Tom Slater.

"Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) was the student group hosting the event, and was in charge of making arrangements with the campus. An auditorium had been secured since summer, but a few days before the event AU administrators told YAL that the space was no longer available and then that the panel had to be canceled altogether.

"Annamarie Rienzi, D.C. chair of YAL and one of the student organizers of last night's event, told me that the school claimed it came down to YAL classifying the panel as a 'meeting' rather than an 'event.' But this is standard practice for YAL and other student groups, she says, when a talk or panel does not involve bringing paid speakers to campus or providing refreshments....

"The event went on ... in ... Reason's D.C. office.... We talked about how Title IX proceedings ... encompass a range of other areas that can have nothing to do with sexual activity or violence, and that can seriously jeopardize academic freedom and (often liberal) professors' livelihoods. Whelan talked about how Title IX proceedings and the general sexual climate on campus can infantilize female students and take women's progress a step backward.

"Shibley argued that Title IX had had many positive accomplishments before it was, only recently, expanded to its current form under the Obama administration.... I talked about how it's the feds, much more than any minority of illiberal students, who are forcing campuses into absurd 'safe spaces' ... rather than face steep fines or lose the ability to participate in federal student-loan programs....

"It was especially disappointing to learn today that this may have been provoked by a women's student group severely misrepresenting the event.... Here's how the American Association of University Women (AAUW) of AU described the spiked panel: 'The Unsafe Space Tour is coming to AU. What do they want to talk about? Completely revising and undoing decades of work by activists around campuses across the country to make campuses safer for victims of sexual violence'.... [I]t added: 'A note on First Amendment rights to free speech: AAUW at AU fully supports free speech. This does not mean we support forcing marginalized students to [experience] hate speech and other forms of violence and trauma'....

"After learning that AU had canceled the event, the group posted (twice): 'We are STOKED to announce that the Unsafe Space Tour has been canceled at AU! In their words, they, 'got word of resistance from some campus groups.' Good riddance! Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in [the "Keep Our Campus Safe" counter-event] and spoke out.'"

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2017/09/29/au-campus-safe-from-title-ix-hate-speech
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Chase Foundation gives $800K/year to libertarian policy network

Chasing Free Enterprise: An Investor Gives Steadily for Libertarian Think Tanks — Inside Philanthropy - Ade Adeniji:

June 20, 2017 - "The Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation's motto is 'free minds, free markets.' Among its trustees is Derwood S. Chase, Jr., who steers Chase Investment Counsel Corporation in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"Chase, who graduated from the University of Virginia and holds a Harvard MBA, also sits on the board of the right-leaning Fraser Institute in Vancouver, Canada, which starts to paint a picture of the type of organizations that Chase is interested in.

"His Chase Foundation of Virginia was established in the mid-1990s, and in recent years has given in the neighborhood of $700,000 to $800,000 annually to a number of libertarian or conservative policy organizations across the country and north of the border.

"Besides the Reason Foundation and Fraser Institute, Chase, via his foundation, has also backed Acton Institute in Michigan, a think tank whose mission is 'to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.' The outfit is named after English Historian Lord John Acton, behind the well-known dictum 'power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

"Chase has also supported places like the Atlas Network, Buckeye Institute for Public Policy in Ohio, Cascade Policy Institute in Portland, Cato Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Goodman Institute for Public Policy in Miami, Institute for Energy Research, Manhattan Institute for Public Policy, and Montreal Economic Institute....

"As we've reported in the past, such giving has allowed the right to scale up a comprehensive policy infrastructure to influence policy at all levels of government."

Read more: https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2017/6/20/derwood-chase-philanthropy-think-tanks
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YAL labelled 'hate speech' group at Wichita U.

Wichita State Student Government Refuses to Recognize Libertarian Group -Mary Lou Lang:

April 7, 2016 - "The Wichita State University student government has refused to recognize a libertarian group on campus because of its First Amendment principles, and a nonprofit group that defends freedom of speech and academic freedom on campuses is asking the university president to reverse their decision.

"The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in a letter on Friday to Wichita State President John Bardo demanded he immediately reverse the student government's decision. The letter also asked Bardo to instruct the student government that it cannot discriminate against prospective student groups based on their own viewpoints.

"'The Wichita State student government is engaged in a full-frontal assault on the First Amendment: It unconstitutionally denied a student group official recognition because, ironically, the student group supports the right of freedom of speech,' said Ari Cohn, director of FIRE's Individual Rights Defense Program, in a prepared statement.

"'The Wichita State administration cannot give its student government authority to grant or deny recognition to student groups and then stand idly by when that authority is exercised in a viewpoint discriminatory manner,' said Cohn, adding that the university must reverse the student government's 'unconstitutional actions.'

"The student government questioned student Maria Church about her application to form a campus chapter of the Young Americans for Liberty on April 5. They also asked her about the group's political positions, the issues it will address, and even the group's views on the First Amendment....

"Several senators were against officially recognizing YAL because other chapters of the group have invited speakers such as former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulous to speak on campus.

"'We've seen very dangerous statements being said in the name of free speech,' said one senator. Another said, 'if you want to talk about having free speech, [YAL's] definition of free speech is highly skewed'....

"According to FIRE, their decision is directly in conflict with longstanding First Amendment jurisprudence. In Healy v. James (1972), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a public college may not deny recognition of a student group "simply because it finds the views expressed by any group to be abhorrent."

Read more: http://freebeacon.com/culture/wichita-state-student-government-refuses-recognize-libertarian-group/
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Iowa State NORML group can use ISU logo, court rules

Appeals court rules marijuana legalization group can use Iowa State logo - Jake New, Inside Higher Ed:

February 14, 2017 - "Iowa State University cannot bar a student group from using the university’s logo and mascot on T-shirts advocating the legalization of marijuana, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

"The lawsuit, sponsored by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education as part of its Stand Up for Free Speech Litigation Project, was filed by two former Iowa State students in 2014. At the time, the students were officers with the university's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. They had repeatedly sought permission to use the Iowa State logo alongside a cannabis leaf on their shirts, but their requests were denied, with the university saying it did not want to appear to be endorsing the group’s agenda.

"But the court's opinion noted that the university allows 800 other student groups to use the logo, including organizations with differing political viewpoints, such as the Iowa State Democrats and the ISU College Republicans....

"The university had originally allowed the group to use its logo and mascot on the shirts, until ...  local politicians pressured the university to revoke its approval of the T-shirts. One such email came from the governor's office.... [T]he university ...suddenly prohibited 'designs that suggest promotion of dangerous, illegal or unhealthy products, actions or behaviors,' or 'drugs and drug paraphernalia that are illegal or unhealthful'....

"Two of the group’s officers sought FIRE's help in suing the university ... after attempts to handle the conflict internally, including submitting several other designs, failed.... Last year, a federal court ... ruled that Iowa State had discriminated against the group and violated the First Amendment. Iowa State chose to appeal, but Monday’s ruling by the higher court reaffirms the initial decision. John McCarroll, a university spokesman, said Iowa State is reviewing the appellate court’s decision and has not decided yet whether to appeal again.

"Monday’s ruling is another win for FIRE’s Stand Up for Free Speech project, in which the organization supports students looking to sue colleges over First Amendment issues.
Four of the project’s initial six lawsuits have ended in settlements."

Read more: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/14/appeals-court-rules-marijuana-legalization-group-can-use-iowa-state-logo
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University libertarians win a free-speech battle

Coalition comes together to aid libertarian college group - Bob Kellogg, OneNewsNow:

September 5, 2014 - "Like many college conservatives and Christian groups, Young Americans for Liberty is finding their free speech rights threatened on college campuses.

"Young Americans for Liberty students at Boise State University were being charged a $465 "security fee" to hold a pro-Second Amendment event on campus.

"YAL spokesman Elliott Engstrom says a broad coalition of legal organizations stepped in to help. Those groups ranged from the conservative Idaho Freedom Foundation to the left-leaning ACLU, and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which is libertarian.

"YAL is also a libertarian organization.

"'And the result was that the school refunded the fee to the student organization,' Engstrom tells OneNewsNow."

http://www.onenewsnow.com/education/2014/09/05/coalition-comes-together-to-aid-libertarian-college-group
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U. of Michigan students sue over unconstitutional funding decision

University of Michigan Student Group Files Lawsuit Over Unconstitutional Funding Decisions - The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education - FIRE - Art Cohn:

December 23, 2013 - "Last Friday, a student group at the University of Michigan (UM) filed a federal lawsuit against the university, claiming that UM violated the First Amendment when it refused to grant the group student fee funding for one of its activities on the basis that it was a 'political activity.' The suit is being brought by Alliance Defending Freedom....

"On October 22, the UM Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) chapter, a recognized student organization, hosted a presentation by Jennifer Gratz, who famously won a 2003 lawsuit against the university for automatically granting admission 'points' to undergraduate applicants based on race....When YAL submitted a request for $1,000 in student fee funding, its request was denied based on a policy against allowing student fees to be used for 'political or religious activities'....

"If these were the only facts, UM would still clearly be in the wrong. As we have repeatedly explained, the law is clear that public universities are legally required to provide funding to student groups on a content- and viewpoint-neutral basis....

"Unfortunately, the allegations go even further.... Official documents summarizing funding of student groups at UM show that as recently as 2010, funding has been granted to a broad array of political and religious student groups....

"But even more galling is the allegation that only a week before Gratz’s presentation to YAL, another student group received funding to travel to Washington, D.C., to advocate a pro-affirmative action viewpoint on the steps of the United States Supreme Court."

Read more: http://thefire.org/article/16603.html
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Auburn's censorship of Ron Paul poster is part of larger problem | The Daily Caller

Auburn's censorship of Ron Paul poster is part of larger problem | The Daily Caller - Greg Lukianoff, President, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)::

September 20, 2012 - "Auburn student Eric Philips made the mistake of hanging a Ron Paul poster in his window, just as he’d seen students do in support of President Obama and other causes throughout his time at Auburn. Within three hours he was told he needed to take it down. Auburn, recycling a claim that FIRE has gotten so used to seeing that we considered putting it on a company T-shirt, argued that the University was simply enforcing a “safety” policy that it had always had against window hangings....

"All Philips had to do to disprove Auburn’s safety claims was walk around campus taking pictures of window hangings left up after he received his speech-code surprise. It wasn’t hard to demonstrate that he had been singled out."

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/20/auburns-censorship-ron-paul-poster-part-of-larger-problem/
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