Court dismisses students’ viewpoint discrimination claims
University of Minnesota students can be forced to pay for minority-only “cultural centers,” the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled recently.
University of Minnesota students are required to pay a fee to fund the school’s student union, which houses several student organizations including nine “cultural centers,” according to the court ruling. These centers are reserved exclusively for students of specific demographics or ideologies, such as the Queer Student Cultural Center, Asian-American Student Union, Feminist Student Activist Collective, and the Black Student Union.
A student organization called Viewpoint Neutrality Now! sued the university for viewpoint discrimination. The group argued the university favored the views of the cultural centers over other registered student organizations.
The lawsuit also contended the university’s process for allocating lounge space gave “unbridled discretion” to university officials, allowing them to make decisions without clear guidelines, which could lead to unconstitutional suppression of free speech.
The plaintiffs argued that the university discriminates on viewpoint because it does not open up special space in the student union to all registered student organizations. Rather, “the University affirmatively prefers the views expressed by those chosen [clubs]; therefore, the logic goes, the University is engaging in viewpoint discrimination by providing the lounge space to these [clubs] each year,” the ruling stated, summarizing the claims.
The judges ruled the university’s allocation of space to the cultural centers was based on status rather than viewpoint.
However, VNN’s lawyer Erick Kaardal, who serves as special counsel at the Thomas More Society, told Just the News status discrimination is “just as much a violation of the First Amendment” as viewpoint discrimination.
The court ultimately determined that “nothing indicates that the University chose the nine cultural centers (or excluded other RSOs) based on their ‘specific motivating ideolog[ies] or the[ir] opinion or perspective,’” according to court documents.
Similarly, in 2021, the Eighth Circuit ruled in favor of the University of Minnesota after conservative students filed a lawsuit alleging viewpoint suppression.
The university required the students to host Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire at a smaller venue than other speakers were typically granted, as previously reported by The College Fix.
MORE: Judge concerned by ‘unbridled discretion’ of university officials
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