Important Free-Speech Win Kiboshes University of Houston’s Unconstitutional ‘Harassment’ Policy

A federal-court agreement last Friday (June 10) in Speech First v. Khator et al. has overturned a University of Houston policy that conservatives charged was unconstitutional and threatened students’ free-speech rights. The extreme “harassment” policy issued by the school (Renu Khator is its president) in late 2021 sought to stretch its scope and disciplinary powers to anything said or communicated anywhere, anytime, on campus, off campus, or on social media. The lawsuit resulting in the policy reversal was filed in February by Speech First, a relatively new nonprofit organization that describes itself as a “membership association of students, parents, faculty, alumni, and concerned citizens who’ve had enough of the toxic censorship culture on college campuses, and who want to fight back.”

In its initial complaint against the school — filed on behalf of three conservative students who argues that any discussion of their held views would likely expose them to disciplinary action — Speech First stated the university’s formal anti-discrimination policy was broad, if not global, because it claimed “the University has jurisdiction” even over conduct that “occurs off University Premises between two University-Affiliated individuals.”

The original policy, now overhauled, stated that harassment could include “epithets or slurs, negative stereotyping, threatening, intimidating, or hostile acts, denigrating jokes and display or circulation (including through email or virtual platforms) of written or graphic material in the learning, living, or working environment,” and that even “minor verbal and nonverbal slights, snubs, annoyances, insults, or isolated incidents including, but not limited to microaggressions” may be deemed as worthy of administrative punishment if “such incidents keep happening over time and are targeting a Protected Class.”

The policy was stayed in a May 13 ruling by Federal District Court judge Lynn Hughes. Speech First president Cherise Trump described last week’s approval of a settlement agreement with the University as “a huge win for the First Amendment,” and stressed that

it sends a message to the University of Houston and other universities that they will be held accountable if they enact unconstitutional policies on campus. Not only did we restore students’ free speech rights by eliminating the university’s ‘harassment’ policy, but the university agreed to adopt a new policy that complies with the standard laid out by the Supreme Court in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education. This means that the university cannot restrict a student’s speech unless it is so ‘severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive’ as to deny a student an equal access to education.

In addition to changing its policy, the university agreed to pay Speech First $30,000 in legal fees. “That’s three years’ worth of tuition at UH,” said Trump, adding:

Universities across the country should be put on notice that overbroad policies designed to chill student speech will not be tolerated. Every institution of higher learning should protect freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and the open exchange of ideas, not muzzle students with speech codes that disregard federal guidelines and the U.S. Constitution.