Missouri State University is facing a federal lawsuit alleging its "bias response" policy violates students' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by regulating speech, including activity on social media.
The Washington Examiner reported that the complaint, filed by Defending Education, challenges a university policy that allows administrators to respond to what it defines as "bias" involving protected characteristics such as race, gender identity, religion, national origin, or political orientation.
Under the policy, students reported for "bias incidents" may be required to attend meetings where they are told why their speech was inappropriate and could face referral to another office with authority to impose discipline, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint also alleges the university monitors speech beyond campus grounds, including social media activity, and maintains records to "monitor" and "track" bias trends.
"Missouri State's bias policy and Bias Response Team chill the open and unfettered discourse that should be central to higher education," the lawsuit states.
"The University's bureaucratic procedures for tackling disfavored speech, and the vague, overbroad, and viewpoint-based definition of bias that triggers those procedures, violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments," the lawsuit states.
Defending Education said it represents students at the university who claim the policy prevents them from fully exercising their constitutional rights.
The university declined to comment, citing its policy against addressing pending litigation.
Separately, Missouri State has said its bias response team is not punitive and is intended to provide "mediation" and "consensus-building" services within the campus community.
Similar policies have faced legal challenges across the country, with mixed outcomes.
Montclair State University in New Jersey ended its bias response policy in 2021 after a lawsuit, while a separate challenge to an Indiana University program in 2024 was unsuccessful.
Other universities, including the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Iowa, have shut down similar programs following concerns about free expression.
Missouri State has received an "F" rating on campus free speech from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall Perry criticized the policy in sharp terms.
"Justice Stephen Breyer called classrooms the 'nurseries of democracy.' But democracy dies without the oxygen of free exchange — something nowhere truer than on college campuses where free speech is a fundamental component of intellectual development and education itself," Perry said.
Perry continued, saying, "Missouri State University eschews these principles for a 'bias response' policy that turns anonymous reporters of vague 'biased' speech into campus commissars.
"That kind of chilling of speech is an affront to the Constitution, and we look forward to rectifying this travesty on behalf of our student members," Perry said.
Jim Mishler ✉
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