ACLU of Ohio Files Lawsuit Challenging the Ohio State University’s Violation of Student’s Free Speech and Due Process Rights

COLUMBUS - Today, the ACLU of Ohio filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Ohio State University’s expulsion of a student for engaging in protected political speech, violating his First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Campus officials summarily disenrolled Guy Christensen without a hearing, following controversy surrounding a series of videos he posted on his personal social media pages expressing opinions related to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The videos and speech do not incite or threaten unlawful violence, and the action taken by the University to single out a particular viewpoint for censorship and punishment is unconstitutional.

The ACLU of Ohio urges the court to 1) declare that Mr. Christensen’s speech was protected by the First Amendment and that his disenrollment was a violation of his right to free speech; 2) declare that Ohio State’s choice to deny him any hearing was a violation of his due process rights; and 3) order the University to expunge any student records that indicate that he violated the Code of Student Conduct, committed any disciplinary infraction, or presented any risk to university safety.

In the posts, which reached millions of followers, Mr. Christensen also coarsely denounced U.S. Congressman Ritchie Torres for his support of Zionism. Senior Trump administration officials threatened to investigate Mr. Christensen, and his critics urged the University to take disciplinary action .

“At its most basic level, this case is brought to vindicate a public university student’s First Amendment right to engage in quintessential, protected political speech. More broadly, the case is to push back against the Trump administration’s sweeping agenda to extinguish the ideas and points of view that it disfavors at universities and colleges across the country. The University caved to this pressure. Someone needs to push back on the side of the Constitution and the rule of law,” said Freda Levenson, Legal Director at the ACLU of Ohio. “Ohio State University must permit students to think critically, speak boldly, and dissent without fear of expulsion, even if the viewpoints expressed are offensive to the Trump administration, or to the sensibilities of the majority.”

By expelling Mr. Christensen, Ohio State University -- the third largest public university in the United States – has dangerously capitulated to the Trump Administration’s broad program of extreme, and selective, repression of First Amendment activity on college campuses. The University’s actions against Mr. Christensen are an abandonment of its

"Universities play a vital role in our democracy: fostering free thought and supporting the vigorous exchange of ideas. That is never more important than when a student voices an unpopular opinion on a sensitive political subject--after all, uncontroversial ideas aren't the ones that most need the First Amendment's protection. Ohio State certainly doesn't have to agree with Guy Christensen, but it must respect his right to engage in pure political expression. The ACLU cannot allow the decision to summarily expel him for his views to go unchallenged, or the ripple effects will go well beyond this case,” added Managing Legal Director David Carey.

“The ACLU of Ohio condemns political violence and threats of all forms, but the plaintiff’s pure speech manifestly did not cross that line. And although accounts of rising antisemitic and Islamophobic sentiment on campus and in broader civic life are deeply disturbing, school officials can condemn political violence and build a supportive educational environment by doing their work as educators, not by expelling a student for expressing disfavored views,” added J. Bennett Guess, Executive Director for the ACLU of Ohio.

The ACLU and its affiliates are a U.S.-focused civil liberties and human rights organization and, as a matter of official policy, does not take positions on other nations’ overseas conflicts.