ATHENS, Ohio – In a settlement signed Monday, Ohio University (OU) agreed to revise several of its policies that claimants alleged restricted free speech on campus.
Student Isaac Smith sued OU in July 2014 after OU administrators ordered him and other members of the Students Defending Students (SDS) campus organization to stop wearing T-shirts with the slogan “We get you off for free.” SDS provides free assistance to students accused of disciplinary infractions. The slogan was first used by SDS in the 1970s.
According to a press release from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Smith and his fellow SDS members obeyed the administrators’ orders to stop wearing the shirts because they feared punishment under the language of OU’s Student Code of Conduct. The Student Code of Conduct prohibited any “act that degrades, demeans, or disgraces” another student as well as “taking any reckless, but not accidental, action from which mental or bodily harm could result to another person.”
As part of Monday’s settlement, OU has changed these policies. It will also pay $32,000 for Smith’s damages and attorneys’ fees.
Photo FIRE
