Metro East Sun

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has announced a settlement between Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville (SIUE) and former student Maggie DeJong.

DeJong, a conservative Christian, filed a lawsuit against SIUE for violating her civil and constitutional rights after the university issued a “no contact” order between her and other students due to her outspoken views in class and online.

“Public universities can’t punish students for expressing their political and religious viewpoints,” ADF Legal Counsel Mathew Hoffmann said in a statement. “Maggie, like every other student, is protected under the First Amendment to respectfully share her personal beliefs, and university officials were wrong to issue gag orders and silence her speech. As a result of Maggie’s courage in filing suit, SIUE has agreed to take critical steps to comply with the law and the U.S. Constitution and move closer to accepting and embracing true diversity of thought and speech.”

DeJong, a former graduate student in the school’s art therapy program, was investigated by the university after fellow students turned her in for expressing conservative viewpoints and making political posts on social media. Some of the topics DeJong discussed included religion, politics, critical race theory, COVID-19 regulations, and censorship. As part of the settlement, DeJong received $80,000 and ADF undertook training sessions with three SIUE professors, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom. 

ADF, which gathered internal communications in the case, said the university requested DeJong’s peers to report her for "harmful rhetoric" and imposed the orders without giving DeJong an opportunity to defend her position. The university, as part of a settlement, will revise its policies to provide students with substantive and procedural protections from no-contact orders, after violating DeJong's First Amendment rights, Fox News reported.

SIUE Chancellor James T. Minor acknowledged the settlement in a statement.

“SIUE is unequivocally committed to protecting First Amendment rights and does not have policies that restrict free speech nor support censorship,” Minor said according to New York Post. “SIUE remains committed to free speech, popular or unpopular, offensive or affable, in an environment that embraces the exchange of diverse views on every aspect of human society.”

“For decades, universities have embraced the challenge of vigorously protecting free speech while at the same time creating a safe learning environment for the expression of diverse views. Protecting these two principles can create tensions.”

“For example, while the First Amendment protects free speech (no matter how offensive), it does not protect behavior on a campus that creates a pervasively hostile environment for other students. We accept that balancing these two deeply valued principles of free speech and a safe environment, in real-time, represent inherent complications for administering prudence.”

The Alliance Defending Freedom notes its commitment to pursuing such cases on its website.

“We protect free speech in every sector of society including in public schools and universities because today's students are tomorrow's leaders,” the ADF’s homepage reads.