US Supreme Court turns away challenge to Indiana University bias reporting policy

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By John Kruzel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court turned away on Monday a conservative group’s challenge on free speech grounds to Indiana University’s policy for monitoring and reporting what the school considers to be bias-motivated incidents.

The justices declined to hear Washington-based group Speech First’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling denying its request to block the university’s policy as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protections against government abridgment of speech. Indiana University is a public school.

The issue of free speech on college and university campuses has become a flashpoint in the U.S. culture wars, with some liberals citing the need to counter hate speech and some conservatives saying schools have enacted policies aimed at silencing views on the right.

Speech First, which on its website says it is dedicated to fighting “toxic censorship culture on college campuses,” has sued at least nine universities over their speech policies. Its 2024 lawsuit against Indiana University President Pamela Whitten and other school officials sought to block enforcement of the bias incident reporting policy. The school’s main campus is located in Bloomington, Indiana. 

The policy defines “bias incidents” 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,” according to court records.

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the court’s decision not to hear the appeal. Thomas said he would have taken it up to resolve a split among lower federal appeals courts in handling legal challenges to college bias-response policies.

“Given the number of schools with bias-response teams, this court eventually will need to resolve the split over a student’s right to challenge such programs,” Thomas wrote.

Under Indiana University’s policy, students are asked to submit a report to alert the university if they experience, witness or are aware of a bias incident.

“Indiana University is committed to creating welcoming, inclusive, and respectful campus communities where everyone can thrive and do their best work – a place where all are treated with civility and respect,” the university states on its website.

In the lawsuit, Speech First said the policy violated the First Amendment rights of its student members at Indiana University. The group also said the speech standards defined in the policy were so vague as to deprive students of their constitutional right to understand what conduct is prohibited.

The university’s bias incidents policy marshals the authority of university administrators “to police speech that someone believes is motivated by ‘bias,'” the lawsuit states. “This policy poses a grave risk of chilling the open and unfettered discourse that should be central to higher education.”

The group said that students accused of “bias incidents” can be referred for formal disciplinary proceedings, but school officials disputed this in court papers.

U.S. District Judge James Hanlon in August 2024 denied Speech First’s request to block Indiana University’s policy, finding that the group lacked the necessary legal standing to bring their legal challenge. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2024 upheld Hanlon’s ruling, prompting Speech First’s appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court in March 2024 sidestepped Speech First’s challenge to Virginia Tech University’s policy for monitoring and reporting allegations of bias against LGBT people, racial minorities, religious groups and others.

(Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham)