As part of a court settlement, three liberal college professors at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) will undergo training in basic First Amendment rights by lawyers from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
The settlement also requires that SIUE revise its rules and student handbook to prevent future instances of the gross infringement of First Amendment rights of a grad student that occurred in 2022. The school will also pay $80,000 in damages.
Maggie DeJong was a grad student at SIUE and was moved to defend her Christian faith and conservative viewpoints at the liberal college. On her Instagram account and in person she spoke on such relevant issues as Black Lives Matter, critical race theory, Covid restrictions, and Marxism.
When three fellow students got offended, they ran to administration officials claiming “harassment” and “discrimination.” (This is what liberals do when they run out of answers.)
The administration immediately issued three “no contact” orders restraining DeJong from any contact with the three, directly or indirectly.
The ADF sent a letter to administration officials decrying the “no contact” orders as blatant violations of DeJong’s First Amendment rights to free speech and religion. The school backed down.
But not for long.
When SIUE reinstated the orders, ADF filed suit. When the school asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, the court replied:
DeJong clearly has the right, as enshrined in the First Amendment, to express her religious, political, and social views on her personal social media account and to engage in mutual conversations with fellow students regarding those opinions without fear of retaliation from school officials.
The school’s reticence in accepting the reality that it had grossly violated DeJong’s rights was voiced by ADF’s lawyer Matthew Hoffman:
Rather than accept and embrace diverse ideological perspectives, SIUE officials are determined to force their graduate students to think and speak exactly the same — or stay silent — and they will punish anyone who steps out of line.
Maggie, like every other student, is protected under the First Amendment to respectfully share her personal beliefs, and university officials were wrong to issue gag orders and silence her speech.
As a result of Maggie’s courage in filing suit, SIUE has agreed to take critical steps to comply with the law and the U.S. Constitution and move closer to accepting and embracing true diversity of thought and speech.
That’s highly unlikely. As The New American pointed out in its initial coverage of the case, DeJong learned of the Marxist orientation of at least one of her professors during a conversation with him. From The New American:
DeJong: I feel this push [from the program] to not hold to my worldview. But it feels like you are coming from a very distinct worldview as well.
So, if [you’re] really accepting this postmodern approach — like everybody has “their truth” — then why am I not allowed to align with my truth?
Professor George: It’s actually a James Baldwin quote that’s coming to mind to explain it: “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
DeJong: But then, who determines? Because that’s a very dangerous thing, too. It’s very concerning [over] who determines who silences whom.
The TNA article continued, “The above-quoted James Baldwin was so close to the communists who had infiltrated the American Civil Rights movement in the 1960s that the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) was still celebrating him years after his death.”
And so will those three far-left professors at SIUE even after being exposed to the precious truths and guarantees of rights that appear in the Bill of Rights. They have a different agenda entirely, and will hardly be likely to join the forces of freedom after a few days of “training” by the ADF.
The victory is a small win in the big war: freedom versus tyranny, state versus God, and light versus darkness. That’s a cultural war that won’t be won in a few days of “training,” no matter how capable the instructors may be.
Related article:
Student Sues Marxist University Profs Over Violation of Her Free-speech Rights
