|
 Harvard University’s legal costs fighting a 2017 challenge to
its racial admissions practices surpass $25 million, the cap of its primary
insurer. Harvard is now suing a secondary legal insurer, the Zurich American
Insurance Company, over its refusal to pick up the tab going forward.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had spent more
than $16.8 million by the end of 2018, and its costs have only grown as it, like
Harvard, continues defending admissions policies allegedly favoring Blacks and
Hispanics over whites and Asians.
Challenges to alleged free-speech violations, which have plagued universities
for decades, continue to grow. The University of California San Diego in 2019
paid nearly $1 million after a four-year court fight over its move to defund
student media because of a school newspaper piece satirizing “safe spaces.”
Cases of male students and others challenging sexual misconduct and harassment
charges cost colleges an average of $187,000 each to defend, said Ed Bartlett,
president of Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE), a group that
advocates due process for those accused under Title IX, the federal law barring
sex discrimination. In cases where the schools lose, he said, the average
settlement imposed is $750,000, bringing the annual cost to $41 million for
universities.
 Bartlett and others say courtroom challenges over First Amendment rights,
alleged Title IX violations, admissions standards, and perceived social miscues
reflect an aggressive effort by schools to enforce disputed social justice
policies and the growing influence of administrators who carry them out.
The pandemic increased the numbers of First Amendment cases and complaints,
adding to the legal cost burden placed on colleges, says Adam Steinbaugh of the
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a group that represents
faculty and students in First Amendment cases against universities. College
shutdowns afforded people more time to dig into other people’s backgrounds
through social media, finding old posts that gave them a reason to complain to
administrators. But even before the virus, schools caved in the face of
hot-button cases in which some party or other allegedly felt threatened.
“Calling this to the attention of administrators, who are risk averse, means
finding a way to punish this, and that’s usually through censorship,” Steinbaugh
said.
[to top of second column] |
The University of California’s Berkley campus in
2018 settled a lawsuit with a conservative student group that
battled tougher rules and “security fees” levied on right-leaning
speakers on campus. As part of the settlement, the university paid
$70,000 to cover the plaintiff’s legal fees, in addition to its own
legal costs.
Cal Poly’s Pomona campus paid $35,000 in legal fees to a plaintiff
and its own legal costs before agreeing to beef up its weak free
speech policies in 2015. The lawsuit was filed after two
administrators refused to consider a complaint from a student who
wanted to hand out flyers promoting veganism. Iowa
State University paid nearly $1 million over four years as it fought
a free speech case, ending in 2018 when a judge ordered the school
to pay $600,000 in damages to two plaintiffs (part of the $1
million). The plaintiffs had used the school’s logo on a shirt
advocating marijuana law reform.
In some cases, administrators acknowledge that they understand the
Constitution yet insist that college speech codes take precedence.
At the University of Iowa, Business Leaders in Christ, a Christian
group, was denied access to on-campus facilities because in its
mission statement it defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
In a deposition, Bill Nelson, an associate dean at the university,
acknowledged that suppressing such speech would violate the First
Amendment – but allowing the speech violated the school’s human
rights policy, he said. Business Leaders in Christ prevailed in the
case. Schools have imposed hiring freezes, budget
cuts, and layoffs, while pleading for more state and federal
funding, even as they spend money fighting often-preventable
lawsuits.
In February, leaders from Iowa’s public universities lobbied for
more money from the state legislature, insisting state funding cuts
along with the pandemic have left the schools in a financial pinch.
In California, “Our campuses face soaring costs and mounting revenue
losses associated with the pandemic, putting our students’
well-being and success at significant risk,” former California State
University Chancellor Timothy White told a U.S. House education
subcommittee last year.
Universities have been calling in consultants who advise
administrators on how to handle Title IX situations and other
challenges to policies. And yet, “there is a free speech policy that
applies to universities already,” says Eric Baxter, senior counsel
for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a law firm that has won
several cases against universities.
“It’s called the First Amendment.” |
