Tag Archives: ADF: Center for Academic Freedom

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writing at National Review Online’s Phi Beta Cons blog: “Today, the Alliance Defense Fund (my employer) announced an unprecedented commitment to free speech on campus. A single donor has given a $9.2 million grant to fund the Alliance Defense Fund’s university project, an unprecedented, multi-faceted assault on campus censorship. All told, ADF intends to commit just under $20 million to this battle.”

“The Alliance Defense Fund has received a $9.2 million grant in support of the nation’s largest-ever campaign to eradicate unconstitutional public university and college policies designed to silence religious speech and expression.”

The Badger-Herald: “Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, a conservative campus group, is suing the Associated Students of Madison and various other University of Wisconsin parties on the basis of being denied funding unjustifiably . . . ‘The goal of the case is to ensure that America’s colleges and universities give conservative students the same rights as other students,’ said David French, senior counsel for ADF.”

David French writing at National Review Online Phi Beta Cons: “This week, Texas A&M agreed to recognize Freshman Leaders in Christ (FLiC) for the upcoming school year. University officials had officially denied recognition because the group limited its membership to freshman Christians. After an exceedingly cordial and open discourse with FLiC, the university reversed course. A&M should be applauded for two reasons.”

fter receiving a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom written on behalf of a Christian student club, Texas A&M officials agreed Thursday to continue recognizing the group as an official university student organization without forcing it to abandon its core beliefs and purpose.

Christian Post: “According to the Alliance Defense Fund’s announcement on Tuesday, attorneys reached a favorable settlement with Broome Community College on behalf of North Pointe Church. The church can now access campus facilities. ‘Churches shouldn’t be discriminated against for their beliefs,’ said ADF Litigation Counsel Daniel Blomberg. ‘We are pleased that Broome Community College now recognizes the constitutional right of churches and other religious groups to meet in public meeting facilities on the same terms as other groups.’”

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, has taken up the issue of Yale University refusing to publish content on grounds that it could trigger Islamic violence. David writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: “The very idea that there are certain citizens whose beliefs are beyond reproach or even mockery is offensive to the idea of democratic society. There is no subset of citizens who are entitled to be treated with kid gloves, and it is imperative that they learn this lesson sooner, rather than later. Moreover, the fears in this case should be reversed. It is those who seek to threaten, injure, or kill cartoonists and writers who should live in fear — the fear of lawful authority. Yet all too often we give the worst sort of person veto authority over our speech and in so doing encourage the very violence we seek to avoid.”

Related:

Yale University Press Buys Into the Bla
me-the-Speaker Approach

Dennis Prager: Now Yale Embarrasses the Idea of the Western University

Compounding Cowardice at Yale

Yale Press bans images of Muhammad in new book including depictions based on Dante

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: “Over at Minding the Campus there’s an excellent essay by Michigan State professor Frederick Fico. Professor Fico details his ordeal after he had the temerity to serve as faculty sponsor for a group (College Republicans) that co-hosted a speech by the founder of the Minutemen. Because he was merely associated with the Republicans, he (and another professor who sponsored Young Americans for Freedom) found himself investigated by the “Office for Inclusion” for violating the campus’s expansive nondiscrimination policy . . . ”

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: “. . . the settlements are a signal that it’s not hard for any college to reach an agreement with pro-life and/or religious student groups — simply grant them the same rights everyone else enjoys, and the case goes away.”

Idaho Press-Tribune: “Nampa Classical Academy officials have asked an organization that says it defends religious liberty to help the school explain its use of the Bible in its school curriculum. The Alliance Defense Fund, based in Arizona, is a ‘Christ-centered’ organization that ‘aggressively defends religious liberty,’ according to its Web site, and is involved in numerous legal cases.”

Inside Higher Ed: “Religiously affiliated groups will now be able to seek student fee money at Boise State University, under an agreement struck with students who sued the institution. The accord was announced by the Alliance Defense Fund, which (along with the Christian Legal Society) sued Boise State last winter on behalf of six students who alleged that they had been denied funds for Christian groups with which they were affiliated, even though money was provided to atheist groups.”

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, appeared on the Michael Medved Show to discuss the case of June Sheldon and other cases involving campus free speech issues.

The MP3 runs just over 32 minutes.

ecause of a lawsuit filed by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom and the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law & Religious Freedom, Boise State University has revamped a critical policy affecting religious student groups.

“With help from generous Ministry Friends like you, the ADF Center for Academic Freedom is engaged in a unique endeavor aimed at restoring religious liberties on campus.” Learn more here

OneNewsNow: “‘The University systems have overreached significantly to where they routinely encroach upon students’ fundamental constitutional rights,’ [French] contends. ‘And in those circumstances, court action is absolutely an option.’”

Peter J. Smith reports at LifeSiteNews: “Represented by lawyers with the Alliance Defense Fund, Lopez had filed a lawsuit against the District and LACC back in February after he had been censored and threatened with expulsion by Professor John Matteson, who had assigned the members of his public-speaking class in mid-November to give an informational speech on any topic.”

Alex Murashko reports in the LA Church & State Examiner: “The Alliance Defense Fund is representing Lopez in the case. ‘Christian students shouldn’t be penalized or discriminated against for speaking about their beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel David French. ‘Public institutions of higher learning cannot selectively censor Christian speech. This student was speaking well within the confines of his professor’s assignment when he was censored and ultimately threatened with expulsion.’”

Drew Zahn reports at WorldNetDaily: “‘Professor Matteson clearly violated Mr. Lopez’s free speech rights by engaging in viewpoint discrimination and retaliation because he disagreed with the student’s religious beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel David French in a statement. ‘Moreover, the district has a speech code that has created a culture of censorship on campus. America’s public universities and colleges are supposed to be a “marketplace of ideas,” not a hotbed of intolerance.’”

“A federal court Monday granted a motion filed by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom to halt enforcement of a Los Angeles City College District policy that violates student free speech rights.”

Scott Jaschik reports at Inside Higher Ed: “So where does this leave colleges and students? Waiting. David French, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, said he views the Supreme Court’s decision to skip the Truth appeal as telling those involved in this issue not a flat ‘no’ but a ‘not yet.’ The Alliance Defense Fund has backed the Christian groups in these cases, and French said it would continue appeals to the Supreme Court until the matter is resolved. He said it was ‘problematic’ for universities and students to have such differing opinions coming from appeals courts.”

One News Now: In early 2009, Campus Bible Fellowship was told by Wright State University it was no longer recognized as an official student organization and could no longer meet on campus . . . “It was essentially like telling a Christian student organization that it couldn’t require Christians to lead the group or be voting members. Kind of similar to telling a college Democrats group that it should have Republicans as its officers and leaders,” says David Hacker, litigation staff counsel for ADF’s Center for Academic Freedom.

fficials at Wright State University have agreed to reverse their decision to deny recognition of a Christian student group after receiving letters and public exposure from both the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

ADF Attorney David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog:
“It is remarkably common for university administrators (and virtually any other form of government or private official) to view religious speech as “special” — and not in a good way. Decades of school-prayer litigation and other Establishment Clause cases have led to a mountain of misinformation that can lead even well-meaning individuals to suppress private religious speech in public contexts.”

Mercury News (AP) reports: The student affairs adviser for the department objected to the Jesus reference and asked her to substitute it with “I want to thank God” instead, according to the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious-freedom group that took up Popa’s cause . . . ADF senior counsel David French said he was pleased at the university’s swift response. ‘They did exactly the right thing,’ he said. ‘Her expression is her expression.’”

Officials from the University of California, Los Angeles, confirmed Tuesday that they will permit a Christian student’s graduation statement to include a word of thanks to Jesus Christ after first saying they would not allow the sentence.

ADF attorney David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog:
“Following a link at Inside Higher Ed, I stumbled across a new report from a group called Free Exchange on Campus (FEC), an umbrella organization of academic establishment groups and their allies (including the AAUP, the ACLU, and the American Federation of Teachers) that in practice seems dedicated not so much to “free exchange” but to opposing conservative critics of higher education.

Their new report, which purports to expose the tactics and funding of conservative critics of higher ed, and which also attempts to make the larger point that our critique of higher education as a home of censorship, intolerance towards Christians and conservatives (especially when the two are combined), and all-too-common partisan quackery is overblown and ‘manufactured.’

Because this is a blog post and not a longer article, I’ll focus my critique of the report on their description of the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom’s work and cases.”

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writes at the Phi Beta Cons Blog on National Review:

Liberty is different. The school could not be more explicit about its mission; from its doctrinal statement to its purpose, to its “Distinctives,” Liberty positions itself as not just religiously conservative but politically conservative as well (heck, one of its “Distinctives” is an “absolute repudiation of ‘political correctness’”).

Standing against these statements is a Democratic party that is officially, doctrinally, and unapologetically pro-abortion. Is it a mistake for Liberty to reject a pro-choice group? I would say that it would be a mistake for Liberty to behave in a way contrary to its stated mission and purpose.

Christian Examiner: “‘Christian students shouldn’t be penalized for holding to their beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel David French. ‘When a public university has a prerequisite of affirming homosexual behavior as morally good in order to obtain a degree, the school is stepping over the legal line. Julea did the responsible thing and followed her supervising professor’s advice to have the client referred to a counselor who did not have a conscience issue with the very matter to be discussed in counseling.’”

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, appeared on the Jody Hice show to discuss the case of Julia Ward. ADF attorneys filed a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University Thursday after school officials dismissed Julia from the school’s counseling program for not affirming homosexual behavior as morally acceptable. The mp3 file runs just over 17 minutes. Related ADF press release: E. Mich. Univ. ousts student for not affirming homosexual behavior

David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, appeared on the Michael Medved radio show to discuss the several cases including the case of a counseling student dismissed for refusing to endorse homosexual behavior, the Julia Ward case. French indicates this case is indicative of a trend among the so-called helping professions: counseling, teaching, social workers etc. . .

The mp3 runs just under 35 minutes.

Related ADF press release: E. Mich. Univ. ousts student for not affirming homosexual behavior

National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: “Today, the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, working with Georgetown students, sent a letter to President DeGioia expressing profound regret at the school’s actions.”

Catholic Online: “Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom filed a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University Thursday after school officials dismissed a student from the school’s counseling program for not affirming homosexual behavior as morally acceptable.”

ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco appeared on Relevant Radio with Wendy Wiese to discuss the case of Julea Ward, an Eastern Michigan University student counselor who was disciplined for refusing to endorse homosexual behavior. The mp3 file runs just over 18 minutes.

Michigan Daily: “Ward was then brought under review. A panel of professors questioned her on a number of other issues, including abortion and extra-marital sex, and she said she would still feel comfortable being able to discuss those issues with clients. The panel ruled that Ward was in violation of the code and the university dismissed her. On April 2, the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom filed suit against EMU on behalf of Ward, claiming that the university had violated Ward’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.”

Ypsilanti Citizen: “According to attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, EMU dismissed Julea Ward from the program because she would not agree prior to a counseling session to affirm a client’s homosexual behavior and would not retract her stance in subsequent disciplinary proceedings.”

Right Wing News: “First of all, let me say thank you to the Center for Academic Freedom for suing Spokane Falls Community College over this. But, my question is: where is everybody else?. . . Colleges in this country can no longer be allowed to act as propaganda wings for the left.”

David French, Director of ADF’s Center for Academic Freedom, writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: “It is becoming increasingly clear that many professional schools dedicated to the so-called “helping professions” (education, social work, counseling, etc.) have determined that certain values — often relating to traditional sexual morality — are so abhorrent that they not only can’t be expressed at school but cannot even be believed.”

Ann Arbor News: “The Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom says student Julea Ward was dismissed from her graduate program in March after refusing to affirm a client’s homosexual behavior prior to a counseling session, according to a press release from the group.”

WorldNetDaily reports: A lawsuit has been filed against Eastern Michigan University, accusing the school of tossing a student out of a graduate counseling program because she refused to endorse homosexuality as morally good. Julea Ward filed suit after she was dismissed from the school’s counseling training for not affirming homosexuality and then refusing to recant her beliefs in “disciplinary proceedings,” according to the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom.

Baltimore Sun: “Maryland lawmakers know pornography when they see it, and they know how to stop it: by threatening to halt funding to the state’s flagship public university. Civil liberties groups criticized Thursday a decision by the University of Maryland to cancel a campus screening of what is billed as the most expensive adult film ever made.”

The school dismissed Julea Ward from the program because she would not agree prior to a counseling session to affirm a client’s homosexual behavior and would not retract her stance in subsequent disciplinary proceedings.

David French writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: The college said no. Well, actually, they did more than that. They told the group that its materials (which, among other things, highlighted the toll abortion takes on African-American children) were “hate.” . . .

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys with CLS and the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, challenges Hastings College of the Law’s discrimination against the school’s student chapter of CLS.

ADF’s Center for Academic Freedom reports: “It appears that the University of Florida has revised its student organization nondiscrimination policy. On July 10, 2007, the ADF Center for Academic Freedom and the Christian Legal Society filed suit on behalf of …

Attorney David Hacker of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom appeared on the Adam McManus show to discuss the case ADF filed against L.A. Community College District after professor calls student ‘fascist bastard’ for sharing beliefs on faith and marriage. …

Tonight! ADF Senior Legal Counsel and Director of ADF’s Center For Academic Freedom David French will discuss the “Ask God what your grade is” LA City College suit on the O’Reilly Factor. About 8:15 PM Eastern Time.

ADF attorneys file suit against L.A. Community College District after professor calls student ‘fascist bastard’ for sharing beliefs on faith and marriage

ADF attorney David Hacker writes at the ADF Center for Academic Freedom Blog: “As if the trespassing citations were not enough, the University of Calgary Students’ Union voted Tuesday to sanction the Campus Pro-Life club.”

If the Ninth Circuit follows the Seventh Circuit’s lead (and if the Eleventh Circuit follows suit), then student free-association rights will be virtually assured. If either the Ninth Circuit or the Eleventh Circuit rules for the university, then a classic “circuit split” will exist . . .

David French, Director of ADF’s Center for Academic Freedom,  writes on the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: . . . I have two words for these people: Cowboy up. If you are not actively being censored (and Yale is …

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom secured a settlement with Yuba Community College Friday on behalf of a student, putting an end to a campus policy that requires students to obtain a permit to exercise “free speech” during two allotted hours per week.

ADF attorney David Hacker appeared on KPDQ with Georgene Rice to discuss the case that is the subject of this ADF press release: San Jose City College fired professor for truthfully, accurately answering student question. “The school fired Sheldon for …

Every year, FIRE releases its invaluable speech-code report, and every year the university establishment greets it with stony silence.

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4772 ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND / CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY MEDIA ADVISORY December 9, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom CLS attorney available to media following hearing in Christian fraternity case Oral arguments Wednesday at …

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys have settled a lawsuit with officials at Shippensburg University, bringing an end to the school’s unconstitutional “speech codes.”

University of Maryland-Baltimore County officials agreed Friday to modify their unconstitutional “speech code” and “speech zone” policies that restricted a pro-life student group from sharing its message on campus.

Leonard Link has this post titled: Another Chapter in the Culture Wars: 3rd Circuit Panel Invalidates Former Temple University Sexual Harassment Policy. It discusses the 3rd Circuit’s Temple University speech code ruling.  The post indicates: Alliance Defense Fund is behind …

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom has this post discussing its recent victory against Temple University’s speech code. Related: 3rd Circuit upholds ruling against Temple University “speech code” Temple: Another Court Decision Striking Down a Campus Speech Code

Eugene Volokh has this post on the Volokh Conspiracy discussing yesterday’s 3rd Circuit ruling that upheld a lower court ruling which struck down Temple University’s speech code. Related ADF press release: 3rd Circuit upholds ruling against Temple University “speech code.” …

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit Monday upheld a federal judge’s ruling against Temple University’s former “speech code.”

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4618 ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE July 23, 2008 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom Court refuses to reconsider ruling against Georgia Tech Judge notes university’s “lack of candor throughout litigation” in lawsuit filed …

ADF attorney David Hacker has this post on the ADF Center for Academ Freedom site.  It begins: “The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (subscription required) today that a former ADF Center for Academic Freedom client, A.J. Fluehr, successfully used an …

OneNewsNow.com carries this report about a professor fired for answering a student’s question about how heredity influences homosexual behavior.  The report includes this: It is also ironic, [ADF attorney David] Hacker notes, that the student who complained about Sheldon relaying …

ADF Attorneys filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of a former San Jose City College biology professor fired for answering a student’s in-class question about heredity and homosexual behavior.

ADF attorney David Hacker has this post on ADF’s Center for Academic Freedom site. It begins: A student government association senator at the University of Central Florida stole the Eucharist from a Catholic Campus Ministries meeting this week . . …

A 7th Circuit panel has ruled that a student represented by ADF can wear a T-Shirt with the phrase “Be Happy, Not Gay” in protest of the “Day of Silence.”

The 6th Circuit has reversed a portion of its earlier ruling in favor of a student who sued the Board of Education of Boyd County for suppressing his speech opposing homosexuality.

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday challenging the University of Maryland-Baltimore County’s speech zone and speech code policies on behalf of a student pro-life group.

The April 18 release of the Ben Stein documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” may be highlighting accusations of widespread censorship involving Intelligent Design, but professors and attorneys say the bias goes much wider

The California State University system has agreed to amend its student conduct code to settle a lawsuit by a conservative Christian legal group that argued that its written expectation that students be “civil” was vague and violated students’ rights.

The university suspended the group, Commissioned II Love, in April 2006 after university officials deemed the group’s act of sharing the Gospel as “harassment” and its practice of washing the feet of new members as “hazing.” The school later expelled the group from campus.