The Insurgent didn’t violate any student government or University rules by publishing material many Christians considered offensive in its March issue, according to an ASUO ruling on the most recent grievance, filed jointly by 91 students against the publication.
A new coalition, Students of Faith, filed the grievance May 5, saying the publication’s content violated three University policies and was “discriminatory, knowingly false, slanderous and egregious,” according to the grievance.
David Goward, ASUO programs administrator, ruled in favor of The Insurgent on all three allegations and said student free speech is protected, even when it involves religious ideas or concepts, according to his ruling Monday.
“Furthermore, there are no grounds for demanding an apology from the Student Insurgent,” according to the ruling, which reinforced an earlier decision in favor of The Insurgent after University student Zachary White filed a grievance against the publication over the same issue.
Students of Faith member and University junior Jethro Higgins said the group members expected to lose but wanted to cover their bases before taking a complaint to the University administration.
“We want to make sure the University isn’t using public funds to support hate speech,” he said. “They have the right to say whatever they want, but I don’t want to have to pay for it.”
Members of The Insurgent agree with the ASUO ruling.
“If you start suspending publications because you don’t like what they said, then that leads to the dictatorship and kind of things Russia used to do that we hated so much, supposedly,” said Don Goldman, contributor to The Insurgent.
Higgins said Students of Faith is well organized, has lots of community support and won’t go away.