The University of Maryland in Baltimore County has removed language from a so-called "speech code" that was used to discriminate against pro-life students. But the school will still face a federal judge over its actions.
When a UMBC student reserved space for Rock for Life's "Genocide Awareness Project" display in front of the University Center, school officials originally agreed. But after the display was set up, the administration made the pro-life students move not once, but twice, finally relegating them to a vacant field where almost no students would pass. Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) sued the school and the parties were in federal court last week. "The university came into court Friday and announced that they had changed their policies that had been used to discriminate against the Rock for Life group," says Steven H. Aden, senior legal counsel for ADF. "They have now taken out phrases like 'emotional harassment,' which were used to justify exiling Rock for Life's pro-life display to a far side of the campus where no one really saw it." Aden notes that even though the university has voluntarily agreed to remove the unconstitutional language from their "speech code," Rock for Life plans to continue the lawsuit – both to recover monetary damages and to make a legal point. "We think it's important to hold the university accountable and to make sure that other universities sit up and take notice, and that pro-life groups and Christian groups on campus do not suffer discrimination because of their pro-life beliefs," Aden adds. In addition to removing phrases like "emotional harassment" from its speech code, UMBC has agreed to eliminate the unlimited authority administrators had to punish allegedly offensive speech, and to provide specific safeguards for students' First Amendment rights.
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