Young America’s Foundation and Dhillon Law Group filed a lawsuit against the University of Colorado Boulder this week after a Young Americans for Freedom member faced retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights.
Several weeks ago Zoe Johnson, a Young Americans for Freedom member enrolled at CU Boulder, approached YAF with a problem: Her teacher had lectured her for saying “offensive” things that bothered “anonymous” students — and the school’s DEI office required her attendance at an “educational” meeting. If she didn’t attend, she was told she would not be able to register for classes.
Johnson, like most YAF activists, knew how ridiculous this was and that the First Amendment protected her right to say what she wanted, regardless of whether her teacher agreed.
Under protest, Johnson attended the “educational” meeting and worked with Young America’s Foundation and Dhillon Law Group to quickly file a federal lawsuit to defend her First Amendment rights against CU Boulder’s retaliation.
The new lawsuit names key personnel responsible for the unconstitutional acts in Johnson’s case, including Llen Pomeroy, the associate vice chancellor for the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, and Elizabeth Swanson, the teacher who lectured Johnson and threatened to remove her from class if she refused to be silent.
As YAF sees in its everyday work, students face these seemingly “small” infringements of their First Amendment rights far too often. Few, if any, conservatives students leave college without a tale of ideologically based disparate treatment: a bad grade, a “request” from the DEI office, or a lecture (and implied thread) from someone in power. Leftists have weaponized DEI to create conclaves of dogmatic tyranny and use such offices to punish dissenters.
Many conservative students can relate to Johnson’s experience. That’s why this case is important beyond just the situation that unfolded at CU Boulder. It has the ability to set a precedent for universities everywhere and will put leftist administrators on notice: Conservatives will not take DEI worshippers’ third-class, greater-than-thou, discriminatory treatment any longer.
Such attempts to pick winners and losers when it comes to God-given freedoms — as seen in Johnson’s case against the University of Colorado Boulder — violates the Constitution and undermines the purpose of universities as free and open forums for the exchange of ideas.
Notifications
