Montgomery, Alaa.. Students at the University of Alabama filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging it Comment Of two student-run magazines – one focused primarily on black students and the other on women’s issues
The lawsuit accuses university officials of engaging in censorship and discrimination based on viewpoints.
University officials informed magazine editors in December Nineteen fifty-six and Alice They were spot on Stop magazines. A university official told editors the problem was that the magazines had a perceived target audience, and cited guidance from President Donald Trump’s administration regarding diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campus, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses university officials of violating students’ First Amendment rights and requests the return of the magazines
“These student magazines — unlike other student publications at the university — were suspended and defunded by UA because UA officials did not favor their editorial views on race and gender,” the lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs are students who wrote for the magazines. The students are represented by attorneys at the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Legal Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama.
“Students at the University of Alabama deserve the right to express themselves freely, including their views shaped by their experiences as women and Black people,” said Sam Boyd, senior supervising attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Their lived experiences are valid and important to the fabric of this country’s history and should be shared without interference.
Alex House, a spokesman for the University of Alabama, said the university has no plans to comment on the pending lawsuit. House said in December that the university remains committed to supporting all students and “in doing so, we must also comply with our legal obligations.”
Pushing the decision to stop magazines Protests on campus.
Nineteen Fifty-Six is named after the year in which the first black female student, Autherine Lucy Foster, was allowed to enroll at the university. It has been published for the past five years. The latest edition included an article on the experiences of international students and another on the importance of “creating camaraderie on campus” amid the decline in diversity programs.
Alice has been published for 10 years. The latest issue of Alice included beauty content, such as alternatives to high-end cosmetics, more political articles on misogyny in heavy metal music and an article on the politics of reproductive issues.
Neither magazine restricts who can serve on staff.