University threatened with lawsuit after allegedly attempting to shut down conservative group

The University of Utah has been threatened with a lawsuit by a conservative organization after the school allegedly changed policies it thought the local chapter would violate.

The Mountain State Legal Foundation (MLSF) is representing Young America’s Foundation (YAF), which warned the university it might take legal action over school officials’ alleged discrimination.

The sequence of events leading to the lawsuit threat began when YAF tried to host a screening of the Daily Caller’s documentary, Damaged: The Transing of America’s Kids, in early November.

The screening had to be rescheduled after protestors packed themselves into the room where it was to be shown. 

But after YAF students posted flyers throughout campus advertising the rescheduled event, as well as its plans to host detransitioner Chloe Cole, Associate Vice President & Dean of Students Jason Ramirez took to the university’s blog to call the advertisements “obnoxious, divisive, and simplistic.” 

Then on the day of the event (Nov. 30), YAF says the university changed its campus advertising policies to “state that only one flier advertising a single event may be posted per bulletin board,” a reule which reportedly “did not take effect until the next day.” 

However, university administrators “immediately jumped on the opportunity to punish YAF and “began enforcement on November 30,” the organization reported.  

Associate Dean for Student Engagement and Leadership Erica Andersen also gave YAF a “final warning” stating that any further “violations” would result in removing the YAF chapter’s university recognition. 

At the same time, left-leaning entities, including the LGBTQ Resource Center and the Vegan Club, “openly” violated the policy for weeks “without any repercussions,” YAF alleges. 

In its letter, YAF’s legal representatives warned the university’s staff should “refrain from retaliating against YAF for its free speech and expression, and that any record concerning alleged rule infractions by YAF related to these events be expunged.” 

“It goes without saying that any official action by the University of Utah to revoke YAF’s status as a student organization would suffice to establish an injury-in-fact under Article III,” the letter also stated. “We reserve all rights to pursue this matter against the University itself in federal court.” 

On Dec. 1, the Utah Board of Higher Education even approved a resolution “Establishing Expectations for Implementing Principles of Free Expression on Campus,” for public colleges and universities around the state. 

The free speech battle is something that one lawmaker saw coming and tried to prevent.  

Former Utah state Rep. Kim Coleman unsuccessfully sponsored campus free speech legislation for a number years, but laments that a watered down version of the bill was all that eventually got passed. 

“I sounded the warning bell and the Legislature still voted down free speech protections down six years in a row,” Coleman told The Lion. “The year after I left, the guy who took my place ran the bill, but took all the teeth out of it and all the penalties, and then the universities got on board. Of course they did. Nothing would ever happen to them.”