Oregon’s Chemeketa Community College has settled a federal lawsuit with a pro-life student group by agreeing to pay $25,000 to cover the cost of legal fees and end a policy confining free speech to a small area of campus.
Let’s hope there’s no third time that’s the charm.
Chemeketa Community College removed blatantly unconstitutional policies 10 years ago to avoid litigation. Inexplicably, it largely reinstated them in 2019.
Several months after a lawsuit was actually filed by pro-life student activists, the Oregon taxpayer-funded institution has removed them
again to settle.
Beyond eliminating its tiny so-called free speech zones and requiring students to get permission to use them – two weeks’ notice! – Chemeketa is also paying students Marcos Sanchez and Emma Howell $25,000 to cover attorney’s fees.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the pro-life activists, announced the settlement Friday. It appears to have been finalized Nov. 10, however, after the Board of Education and top Chemeketa officials – 12 defendants in all – individually signed it over six weeks.