United States: The Supreme Court declined to entertain a conservative group’s challenge against Virginia Tech’s bias-response mechanism, deeming the issue irrelevant. As discussions on free speech rights persist on college campuses, the legal dispute underscores ongoing cultural debates.
Virginia Tech had urged the Supreme Court to disregard the group’s appeal, asserting the case’s mootness due to the elimination of the school’s bias-response protocol. Speech First, the opposing organization, contests this, aiming to combat what it labels as a “toxic censorship culture” on campuses, with ongoing lawsuits targeting multiple institutions with similar speech policies.
Initially filed in 2021 against Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands, the lawsuit aimed to halt the implementation of the university’s Bias Intervention and Response Team protocol, defining bias incidents and establishing a review process involving administrators and student representatives.
Speech First argued that the First Amendment rights of its members were violated by the university’s bias-response team, branding them as ‘literal speech police,’ potentially chilling student speech, especially dissenting opinions. Virginia Tech countered, asserting that its protocol always respected the First Amendment.
The issue of free speech on campuses has become a battleground in the broader cultural war, with some advocating for hate speech containment and others opposing speech codes, reflecting deep ideological divides.
In late 2021, US District Magistrate Judge Michael Urbanski rejected Speech First’s bid to nullify Virginia Tech’s policy, citing a lack of legal grounds and affirming that the policy did not prohibit any conduct.