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Dive Brief:
- Missouri State University is facing a lawsuit from a right-wing advocacy organization that alleges the institution’s policy for handling bias incidents chills free speech and causes students to self-censor in the classroom.
- In court documents filed Tuesday, Defending Education argued that the university’s definition of bias is “vague, overbroad, and viewpoint-based,” and its policies violate students’ First Amendment and due process rights.
- The group is asking a federal judge to permanently block the policy and declare it unconstitutional. However, Missouri State on Thursday told Higher Ed Dive that it “is disbanding its Bias Response Team, effective immediately” and that the team has not met since September. The decision was made last month and “predates any litigation,” according to a spokesperson.
Dive Insight:
Defending Education on Tuesday alleged that the university’s bias response strategy represents “a far-reaching policy that is designed to deter, discourage, and otherwise prevent students from expressing disfavored views about the political and social issues of the day.”
According to the group, students accused of perpetrating bias incidents are required to meet with the university’s Bias Response Team, composed of senior administrators. The team then tries to “‘educate’ them about why the University believes their speech was wrong” and refers them to offices within the university “with the authority to discipline,” the lawsuit said.
Defending Education’s complaint names Missouri State’s board members as defendants, along with half a dozen senior administrators and the members of the university’s Bias Response Team.
As recently as February, Missouri State defined bias on its website as “language or behaviors that demonstrate bias against persons or groups because of ability, race, color, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, faith, national origin, political orientation, or sexual orientation.
The university said on a now-deleted webpage that such incidents can include actions “in which the perpetrator(s) cannot be identified and/or the acts of bias do not rise to the level of discrimination or harassment for purposes of Title IX.” It gave wall graffiti in a commonly used campus space as an example.
On Thursday, Missouri State said that the Bias Response Team typically reviewed “isolated, anonymous reports of bias on campus, such as graffiti containing swastikas or racial epithets.” Such reports were “limited in scope and infrequent,” it said.
“The university stands behind the work of the Bias Response Team,” a spokesperson said. “The team’s purpose was limited, and its work was conducted in accordance with the university’s obligations under the First Amendment and other applicable law.”
Along with the Bias Response Team’s deleted webpage, most mentions of the group have been removed from the university’s online presence.
Defending Education, is representing three unnamed Missouri State students who say they don’t feel comfortable openly expressing their conservative views because “other students, faculty members, or others will likely report” them for committing bias incidents.
The lawsuit alleged that the university’s policy has caused one sophomore, known as Student A, to self-censor in the classroom.
“When another classmate or another member of the university community voices contrary views about these and other controversial topics, including gender, abortion, so-called same-sex marriage, crime statistics, immigration, and welfare spending, Student A wants to point out the flaws in their arguments and convince them to change their minds,” it said.
Instead, the student only discusses the topics with “small circles of friends” he knows are unlikely to report him.
The policy covers off-campus and online speech as well, meaning students are subject to “speech oversight no matter where they are,” the lawsuit alleged.
Defending Education — originally called Parents Defending Education when founded in 2021 — describes itself as a national grassroots organization whose members “include students, parents, and others who are concerned about the state of education in America.”
But its links to right-wing media, think tanks and funding sources have led critics to label it an “astroturf” group — one in which policy advocates use wealth and connections to create the appearance of widespread, organic support for an issue.
Defending Education President Nicole Neily is also the board chair and sole listed staff member of Speech First, another conservative advocacy group that has sued colleges to change their policies.
Tuesday’s lawsuit cites multiple previous cases brought by Speech First that resulted in universities disbanding their bias response teams, including at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan. It also cited work by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which has criticized bias response policies.
The case was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Megan Benton, a Trump appointee, from U.S. District Judge David Rush, a Missouri State alumnus, due to a conflict of interest.
