University of Washington Initiating Free Speech Reforms by Paying $122,500 Lawsuit Settlement

On June 14, the University of Washington settled a lawsuit filed by the UW College Republicans.

The university first imposed $17,000 in security fees for an on-campus event with the conservative group Patriot Prayer on February. The grounds for this outsized security fees are due to the protests causing violence and property damage in the past. After that, the UW College Republicans sued the university in order that security fee should be imposed based on viewpoint-neutral policy and university should respect First Amendment rights.

Finally, the settlement guarantees that University of Washington pledge to change the public policy and pay $122,500 to the UW College Republicans for attorneys’ fees. Furthermore, the university agreed to make some slight reformation in security fees “[not] based on the content or viewpoint of a speaker’s speech or based on the community’s reaction or expected reaction to an invited speaker.”

The opinion that security fee should be permanently banned is still far-fetch and controversial, yet that security fee might act out as a latent motive to censor the right for free speech which students are seeking for. In that sense, this settlement is a leading step toward a big reformation among universities all over the country.