Lawsuit challenges Indiana University’s ‘bias incident’ policy
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A pro-free speech group has filed a lawsuit against Indiana University President Pamela Whitten, the IU Board of Trustees and several administrators on the university’s Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses.
Speech First Inc. alleges that IU’s bias incident policy is designed to “deter, suppress, and punish disfavored and controversial speech,” especially among students with conservative views.
IU has a bias incident reporting policy in which anyone can submit a report to a team of “trained university officials” who will review and respond to the report.
The university’s website defines as bias incident as “any conduct, speech, or expression, motivated in whole or in part by bias or prejudice meant to intimidate, demean, mock, degrade, marginalize, or threaten individuals or groups based on that individual or group’s actual or perceived identities.”
IU says anyone who experiences, witnesses or is aware of a bias incident can submit a report.
“This policy is so overbroad that anything students find offensive can be reported,” Speech First said in a news release. “This could include something as simple as asking why the Biden Administration has added
‘gender identity’ as a protected class under Title IX. Or stating that unchecked illegal immigration will
lead to an increase in crime.”
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, alleges the university’s policy is in violation of the First and Fourteenth amendments.
Click here to view the full complaint.
“Indiana University and its officials have enacted a far-reaching policy that is designed solely to deter, discourage, and otherwise ‘prevent’ students from expressing disfavored views about the political and social issues of the day,” the lawsuit said.
In a statement to Inside INdiana Business, IU spokesperson Mark Bode said the university does not comment on pending litigation.
Speech First bills itself as a nationwide membership organization of students, alumni and other concerned citizens “dedicated to preserving civil rights secured by law, including the freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
The organization says it has challenged similar policies at the University of Texas, University of Michigan and the University of Central Florida, noting those schools ultimately disbanded their bias incident teams.
In the suit, Speech First mentions five unnamed IU students who it says want to have open debates with fellow students on topics such as abortion, gender identity, illegal immigration, and the war in Gaza, but are afraid that they will be reported for committing a bias incident.
“The bias incidents policy gives students no guidance about what speech is permitted and what speech isn’t, and the policy authorizes arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement,” the suit says.
IU’s website says its Bias Response Team cannot take disciplinary actions related to any reports that are submitted, though Speech First claims the reports can be “referred for formal disciplinary proceedings.”
Speech First is seeking a preliminary and, ultimately, a permanent injunction barring IU from enforcing its bias incidents policy, including “investigating, logging, threatening, referring, or punishing (formally or informally) students for bias incidents.”
In addition to Whitten and the IU Board of Trustees, the defendants in the suit are Lamar Hylton, vice provost for student life at IU Bloomington; Kathy Adams, associate vice provost for student life and dean of students at IU Bloomington; Cedric Harris, assistant dean for student support and bias education at IU Bloomington; Jason Spratt, associate vice chancellor and dean of students at IU Indianapolis; Heather Brake, associate dean of students for student conduct and advocacy at IU Indianapolis; and Katherine Betts, assistant vice chancellor of diversity, equity and inclusion at IU Indianapolis.
The lawsuit is the second one filed in a month against Indiana University. The ACLU of Indiana filed suit in early May on behalf of three individuals who received no-trespass orders after being arrested for protesting the war in Gaza on the Bloomington campus, citing a violation of their First Amendment rights.