OPINION: President who said ‘we silence voices all the time in this country,’ should be held personally liable
New York taxpayers will shell out $42,000 to end a free speech lawsuit brought against the State University of New York’s Cortland campus.
The settlement ends a legal battle that began when the student government and campus officials rejected a proposed Turning Point USA chapter in November 2023.
The Cortland College Student Association must pay out $27,000 to ADF to end the lawsuit. But all that money comes from student fees.
New York will pay out $15,000 to bail out their campus president who at times has appeared not to understand the First Amendment.
“We silence voices all the time in this country. That’s the tragedy and also the greatness of democracy,” university President Eric Bitterbaum told the students, telling them not to bother reapplying.
He reversed course soon after Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit in March, leading to a quick approval.
During the nearly two-hour meeting, philosophy Professor Nikolay Karkov also spoke out against the group, according to footage. The philosophy scholar “teaches and researches on socialism, Marxism, and feminist theory,” according to the original lawsuit.
Thanks to the settlement, the student government and campus officials will no longer be able to arbitrarily reject club applications.
“The student government has now agreed to revise the policy to respect the constitutionally protected freedoms of all students, including implementing an appeal process if a group is denied recognized status,” ADF announced on Monday. “As part of the settlement agreement, the student government and SUNY Cortland will also pay $42,000.”
“Students Gabriella Delorenzo and Megan Rothmund worked hard to form a TPUSA chapter at the university to bring together students who value freedom, free markets, and limited government,” ADF Senior Counsel Mathew Hoffmann stated in the news release. Rothmund is on the left in the featured image and Delorenzo is on the right.
“After Gabriella and Megan pursued legal action, the Student Government Association rightly decided to officially recognize the group and revise its policy to promote First Amendment freedoms for all students,” Hoffmann stated.
It is good news the group has won and the policy will be changed.
But campus officials who blatantly violate the First Amendment will continue to do so as long as the taxpayer is there to bail them out of their mistakes.
In a completely just world, President Bitterbaum would be held personally liable for violating the free speech rights of students.
MORE: Students get $330K settlement, end to ‘offensive’ speech code
IMAGE: Alliance Defending Freedom
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