{"id":145953,"date":"2021-02-18T14:56:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T19:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=145953"},"modified":"2021-02-18T17:01:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T22:01:26","slug":"free-speech-organization-sues-university-of-central-florida-for-discriminatory-speech-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/free-speech-organization-sues-university-of-central-florida-for-discriminatory-speech-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Speech Organization Sues University of Central Florida For \u2018Discriminatory\u2019 Speech Policies"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffree-speech-organization-sues-university-of-central-florida-for-discriminatory-speech-policies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=145953&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/UCF-Campus.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A free speech organization filed a lawsuit against the University of Central Florida (UCF) alleging that the school has \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d policies in place that chill students\u2019 speech.<\/p>\n<p>Speech First, a nonprofit membership organization working to combat campus civil rights restrictions, filed a lawsuit against the university over its \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d harassment policy, its computer policy, and its \u201cJust Knights Response Team\u201d (JKRT), which is the school\u2019s version of a Bias Response Team.<\/p>\n<p>Bias Response Teams are measures deployed by universities to combat \u201chate speech\u201d on campus. The teams ask students to tattle on their peers to Bias Response Teams, such as UCF\u2019s JKRT, which proceeds to monitor and investigate students and faculty with \u201cproblematic\u201d speech. Some teams use law enforcement and student conduct administrators to enforce their rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe University of Central Florida and its administrators have created a series of rules and regulations that restrain, deter, suppress, and punish speech about the political and social issues of the day,\u201d Speech First said in a press statement.<\/p>\n<p>According to the lawsuit, the university\u2019s harassment policy claims that \u201charassment\u201d can occur virtually anywhere, at any time, and by any medium. The school\u2019s policy applies to incidents on and off-campus and refers to an \u201cincident\u201d as anything that has \u201ccontinuing adverse effects on or create[s] a hostile environment for students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Under the school\u2019s policy, if Student A explains why they support police officers and Student B is offended by this idea, then Student A could face punishment for speaking about something that has an \u201cadverse effect\u201d on Student B.<\/p>\n<p>Once a student\u2019s speech is reported to the university, an investigation is immediately launched and students are subject to disciplinary action. The lawsuit argues that such policies have a chilling effect on student\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n<p>The school has similar speech codes imposed on their technology as well. Students \u201cwho use university information technology resources\u201d are subject to the same harassment speech codes. The university prohibits using its network to send messages \u201cthat reasonably could be perceived as being harassing, invasive, or unwanted.\u201d Though, it offers no examples of what behavior is included in these descriptions. Students can be punished by being stripped of network and computer access privileges.<\/p>\n<p>Under these policies, students at UCF are reportedly scared to express views that may be considered \u201cbiased\u201d for fear they will be reported to the JKRT, which acts as a \u201cclearinghouse for any bias-related incidents that may occur on UCF campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to university policies, responses to accusations of bias by the JKRT \u201cinvolve a variety of activities including discussion, mediation, training, counseling, and consensus building.\u201d Community members more broadly involved or offended may also enter JKRT sessions, even when an incident happens between two parties.<\/p>\n<p>Under the university\u2019s code of conduct, failure to participate in JKRT interventions is considered \u201cdisruptive behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUCF\u2019s disciplinary measures associated with their bias response team resemble reeducation camps, forcing adult college students to sit through patronizing lectures on which types of speech the university considered acceptable,\u201d said Speech First founder Nicole Neily. \u201cUnfortunately for the school, the Constitution does not give UCF the authority to judge the content to student speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The organization has asked for a permanent injunction barring UCF from enforcing the three bias response rules.<\/p>\n<p>Speech First recently won a similar lawsuit against the University of Illinois over its bias reporting systems.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/free-speech-group-squashes-universitys-bias-reporting-system-in-court\">reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>The University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign will be forced to amend a handful of policies that were allegedly used as mechanisms to silence on-campus speech, ending a nearly two-year legal battle with a free speech organization.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Speech First, a legal group that tackles campus speech issues, filed a lawsuit against the University of Illinois in May 2019 for upholding policies they claim were prejudiced against students with unpopular beliefs. Shortly before the Illinois Supreme Court was set to review the case, the university settled and agreed to amend or remove the dispute policies.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/free-speech-group-squashes-universitys-bias-reporting-system-in-court\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A free speech organization filed a lawsuit against the University of Central Florida (UCF) alleging that the school has \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d policies in place that chill students\u2019 speech. Speech First, a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2181498,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/UCF-Campus.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Free Speech Organization Sues University of Central Florida For \u2018Discriminatory\u2019 Speech Policies","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/UCF-Campus.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Free Speech Organization Sues University of Central Florida For \u2018Discriminatory\u2019 Speech Policies","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2181498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}