Cameron Henderson
02 October 2024 9:41pm
A university has demanded students fork out thousands of dollars to cover the additional security costs of hosting a conservative speaker.
The University of New Mexico (UNM) has been accused of trying to silence conservative voices on campus after it ordered student group Turning Point USA (TPUSA) to pay $5,384 in security fees to host Riley Gaines, a court heard.
Ms Gaines is a former champion swimmer who campaigns against transgender athletes competing in women’s sport. Her speaking events have been met with demonstrations on university campuses.
TPUSA, the organisers of the event, filed a lawsuit against the university last year, claiming it “engaged in viewpoint and content discrimination” when it imposed the fees, “based on the officials’ subjective assessment of the crowd’s potential reaction”.
The conservative student group argued that imposing the fees was a breach of students’ rights under the first amendment, which prohibits administrators from regulating free speech.
‘Major win’
Now, a federal court judge has ruled that the university must cease enforcing security fees for “speech events”. The preliminary ruling means that the university cannot collect fees from TPUSA until the case is resolved.
“This is a major win in the battle to protect the First Amendment rights of college students, regardless of the viewpoint they express,” said Kimberly Hermann, executive director of Southern Legal Foundation, which supported the lawsuit.
Ms Hermann told Fox that UNM’s policy surrounding speaking events was “so vague that the university can impose whatever fees it wants for any event”.
“Now, TPUSA is the only conservative student organisation left at UNM,” she said. “They basically run every other conservative or libertarian student organisation out of campus.”
Ms Hermann added that the ruling will prevent the university from imposing higher security fees for hosting conservative speakers than they would for any other speaker.
Ms Gaines praised the ruling, labelling the fees an attempt to silence conservative student voices that could cause “irreparable harm”.
“Sadly, we see this all the time. Conservative student voices are silenced on campus through excessive fees blamed on security, like in this case, or other red tape that makes it harder for conservative students to use their voice on campus,” she said.
“Colleges and universities should be a place of critical thinking where different ideas are welcomed and encouraged. They should not be a place of political discrimination and suppression of First Amendment rights, like in this case.
“We are very grateful that the court granted this injunction and saw the irreparable harm that would come if these high fees were applied to our event.”
A UNM spokesman said the university was “committed to the First Amendment and the right of free speech on campus”.
They continued: “UNM intends to comply with the court’s order, which was limited to speech events. While UNM is currently prohibited from charging fees for the security it provides for speech events, UNM remains committed to ensuring the safety of our campus and the safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors.”
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