{"id":448400,"date":"2024-11-21T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?p=448400"},"modified":"2024-11-20T16:22:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T00:22:23","slug":"college-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_es\/education\/2024\/11\/college-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Profesores y estudiantes conservadores est\u00e1n demandando a los colegios comunitarios de California y ganando"},"content":{"rendered":"
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En resumen<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t

In numerous lawsuits, conservative professors and students allege that California\u2019s community colleges are hindering their right to free speech under the First Amendment.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n

At California\u2019s community colleges, conservative professors and students are making their voices heard \u2014 not just in the classroom but in court. Their lawsuits have already led community colleges to pay millions in settlements and legal fees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CalMatters identified at least seven cases filed since 2020 in which professors or students have sued their community college districts for issues related to free speech. Most of the cases are still ongoing and are located in California\u2019s Central Valley, in counties where Republicans often outnumber Democrats. Although separate, many of these lawsuits include similar allegations: that programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion are restricting the right to free speech under the First Amendment. The University of California system is facing a caso similar<\/a> in Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a state with 73 community college districts and 116 community colleges, such lawsuits are rare. Still, president-elect Donald Trump has used similar cases as fodder for national policy, such as a 2019 executive order<\/a> he signed regarding free speech on college campuses, which he justified by pointing to a few conservative and religious students who claimed colleges had restricted their rights. Throughout his campaign for this year\u2019s election, Trump promised to continue that focus if re-elected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe time has come to reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical left,\u201d he said in a campaign video<\/a> last year, later adding that he would protect free speech and remove \u201call Marxist diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucrats\u201d from college campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when these lawsuits get dismissed, community colleges can still pay a price. In a Riverside County demanda judicial<\/a>, Moreno Valley College professor Eric Thompson claimed the community college violated his right to free speech when it fired him. The lawsuit alleges that his termination was a result of various student complaints, all stemming from opinions that Thompson had presented in class or over email with the wider college community. He argued, for example, that homosexuality is the result of social factors, not genetics, and that conversion therapy should be allowed. Thompson lost the case but public records show that the district still paid nearly $900,000 in legal costs to fight it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was never about making money. It was not only about making change, but also about ensuring that change remains for future students.\u201d 
<\/p>Juliette Colunga, former student at Clovis Community College<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Daniel Ortner, an attorney who recently helped students and professors file three different lawsuits against community college districts, these cases are part of a broader trend of cracking down on controversial speech and forcing \u201cconformity to a certain viewpoint,\u201d especially on topics of race. Ortner works for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonprofit organization that focuses on free speech issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The community college system, the California State University system, and the UC Office of the President all have policies promoting diversity, equity and inclusion on their campuses, though each system has taken a different approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ortner said the policies at the community college level are the strictest, and therefore, elicit more pushback from faculty. According to state regulaciones<\/a> adopted in 2022, every community college district in the state must develop a policy to evaluate staff based on their ability to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents must experience campus and classroom cultures that they feel they can belong to<\/a>, where they can thrive and succeed\u201d said Eloy Ortiz Oakley, then-chancellor of the community college system, during a 2022 presentation about the new regulations. Of the more than 2 million students who enrolled at one of the state\u2019s community colleges last year, most are de bajos ingresos<\/a>, including some students who are former foster youth or formerly incarcerated. Most students identify as Black, Hispanic, or Asian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The California community college system has the \u201cmost diverse student population in the nation,\u201d said Ortiz Oakley, later adding that neither the CSU nor the UC system had similar regulations in place. \u201cWe should be proud that we\u2019re leading the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nationally, many college systems have taken the opposite approach. A total of 25 states<\/a> have proposed or signed legislation curbing how colleges support diversity, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawsuits over pronouns, posters, and alleged censorship<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many of the California lawsuits follow the same general contours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the details of Un caso<\/a>, David Richardson, a professor at Madera Community College, started using the pronouns \u201cDo, Re, Mi\u201d while attending a 2021 presentation about personal gender pronouns. When the facilitator later approached Richardson about his choice of pronouns \u2014 calling his actions \u201charmful to trans people\u201d \u2014 Richardson doubled down, claiming that his choice of pronouns was part of his right to free expression. After the college disciplined him, Richardson sued the State Center Community College District, which oversees Madera Community College. The case is still pending in federal court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Campus Center of Bakersfield College on June 14, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Otro demanda judicial<\/a> at Bakersfield College dates back to 2019, when two professors, Matthew Garrett and Erin Miller, put together a campus talk <\/a>about \u201cfree speech\u201d and \u201ccampus censorship.\u201d During the talk, Garrett and Miller criticized the school for supporting Kern Sol News, a nonprofit news site, and criticized specific professors at the school\u2019s Social Justice Institute. Bakersfield College administrators then wrote a note in their personnel files, criticizing Garrett and Miller for \u201cunprofessional conduct,\u201d effectively \u201cchilling\u201d their First Amendment rights, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kern Community College District settled with Garrett this summer, paying him $2.4 million<\/a> on the condition that he drop all of his legal complaints against the district. It\u2019s less than 1% of the district\u2019s annual budget, but for a faculty member, many of whom make around $100,000 a year, it\u2019s a significant sum. Miller is continuing with the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the settlement, both Garrett and the district deny any wrongdoing. \u201cThe settlement is in the best interest of the District and allows us to focus on the future and continue to deliver quality higher education for students of Kern County without any further legal distractions,\u201d said Norma Rojas, a spokesperson for the Kern Community College District, in a written statement. \u201cTo be clear, the dispute with Matthew Garrett was a disciplinary matter due to his disruptive actions on campus, none of which concerned freedom of speech.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller and Garrett declined multiple requests to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Central Valley case stems from an incident in 2021. At the time, Juliette Colunga was a student at Clovis Community College and on the leadership team of her college\u2019s chapter of the Young America\u2019s Foundation, a national conservative organization with local branches at over 2,000 college campuses. She and two other students placed a set of posters across campus that criticized communism, which the college then removed after other students complained. Later, Colunga and her co-leaders asked to put up pro-life posters, but school leaders said they could only be placed in a different location, far from the spot where they usually placed their content. With help from Ortner and the Young America\u2019s Foundation, she and the other student leaders demandado<\/a>, alleging that the school district\u2019s actions violated their First Amendment Rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This summer, the State Center Community College District, which oversees Clovis Community College, agreed to pay her, the other student leaders, her attorneys, and the Young America\u2019s Foundation $330,000 <\/a>as part of a legal settlement. The district also acordado<\/a> to implement a new policy for displaying posters on campus and to provide \u201cFirst Amendment training\u201d to all of its managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was never about making money,\u201d Colunga said. \u201cIt was not only about making change, but also about ensuring that change remains for future students.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kristen Kuenzli Corey, general counsel to the State Center Community College District, declined to comment on Colunga\u2019s lawsuit, Richardson\u2019s lawsuit, and another similar lawsuit. She pointed to the pleadings in the cases as evidence of the district\u2019s position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do public employees, students have the right to free speech?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In general, the free speech provision of the First Amendment governs the relationship between people and government. Faculty and students at a public college have a right to free speech under the First Amendment, but in a slightly more limited manner, said David Snyder, the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition. Various courts have found that public institutions can limit the free speech rights of its employees \u2014 in this case, faculty \u2014 if an employee\u2019s behavior runs counter to the mission of the institution. Schools also have a right to restrict their students\u2019 speech, but only if it disrupts education. The most famous example is the \u201cTinker test,\u201d<\/a> where the U.S. Supreme Court said that students had a First Amendment right to free speech, as long as their conduct did not \u201cmaterially and substantially interfere\u201d with education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Estudiantes
Students walking at the Madera Community College campus on Aug. 28, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat also matters is what the school’s policies say,\u201d Snyder said. Regardless of the constitutional questions, a professor or student can sue if they feel the school\u2019s actions contradict its policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to its policy on diversity, equity and inclusion, California\u2019s community college system also has a policy<\/a> on academic freedom, which states that faculty, staff, and students should have \u201cthe opportunity to express their opinions at the campus level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulations around diversity, equity and inclusion do not conflict with the academic freedom policy or otherwise \u201ccensor or compel speech,\u201d said Paul Feist, a spokesperson for the community college system, and he pointed to a lawsuit filed by Bakersfield College professor Daymon Johnson as evidence. Johnson does not agree with the college\u2019s principles of diversity, equity and inclusion and claims that being forced to adhere to them would infringe on his rights, according to the case. A judge recently despedido<\/a> Johnson\u2019s claims, though he has appealed the ruling. Neither the district nor Johnson responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the seven lawsuits identified by CalMatters, most have taken years to resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colunga\u2019s lawsuit settled this summer \u2014 almost three years after she and the other student leaders first put up the posters at Clovis Community College. By the time the case settled, she had already graduated and transferred to The Master\u2019s University, a private, four-year Christian college near Los Angeles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said the school doesn\u2019t have an official chapter of Young America\u2019s Foundation, but she\u2019s trying to get one started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Echelman cubre los colegios comunitarios de California en asociaci\u00f3n con Open Campus, una sala de redacci\u00f3n sin fines de lucro centrada en la educaci\u00f3n superior.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\t\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tLeer m\u00e1s<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t
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Los legisladores intervienen a medida que se erosiona la confianza entre los colegios comunitarios y la Universidad Estatal de California<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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'Est\u00e1 empeorando significativamente': los colegios comunitarios de California est\u00e1n perdiendo millones debido al fraude de ayuda financiera<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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