Lawsuit Targets 'Onerous' Student Speech Codes at Georgia Tech
by Jim Brown
March 22, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A federal civil rights lawsuit accuses the Georgia Institute of Technology of censoring the speech of religious and conservative students by enforcing "draconian" speech codes. The suit claims students at the school "are less free to speak and express themselves at the Institute than they are in downtown Atlanta."
The Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a speech code at Georgia Tech that prohibits "acts of intolerance." ADF senior legal counsel David French says on one hand, Georgia Tech bans students from saying anything that would be subjectively deemed "intolerant" -- and on the other hand withholds lawful funding to religious student groups.
In the meantime, French alleges, the school is engaging in explicit religious instruction on the issue of homosexual behavior through a training program called "Safe Space."
"Georgia Tech has put together a training program that teaches students, administrators, and employees of Georgia Tech ... that those who believe that homosexual behavior is unbiblical can and should be compared to those who used the Bible to justify slavery," the attorney explains.
The online training manual found at Safe Space states: "Many religious traditions have taught, and some continue to teach, that homosexuality is immoral. These condemnations are based primarily on a few isolated passages from the Bible. Historically, biblical passages taken out of context have been used to justify such things as slavery, the inferior status of women, and the persecution of religious minorities."
French says he finds it curious the American Civil Liberties Union has not weighed in on the matter, given the group's penchant for voicing concern over the so-called separation of church and state. Georgia Tech, he believes, is "clearly overstepping" its bounds in interpreting religious texts and then "pushing it own view upon a religiously diverse community on campus."
French, who heads up the ADF's Center for Academic Freedom, says the school also withholds lawful funding to religious student groups.
"Our clients ... have been trying to change the climate at Georgia Tech literally for years," says the ADF spokesman. "And for their trouble they've had their speech censored, they've had their protests shut down by campus police -- and most recently they had university officials warn them away from speaking any further along the lines that they were wanting to speak."
The two plaintiffs -- Orit Sklar and Ruth Malhotra -- are members of the group College Republicans at Georgia Tech. They claim their ability to dialogue on "matters of political, cultural, and religious importance" is restricted by the school's speech code and intolerance of dissenting students.
ADF filed Sklar v. Clough [PDF] in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Among other things, the lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction against enforcement of the speech code, a declaration that the speech code is unconstitutional, as well as damages and attorneys' fees.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
