Kennesaw State filed a response on Sept. 19 to a lawsuit brought against the university earlier this year by Ratio Christi, a christian student organization, denying many of the claims brought forward in the organization’s complaint.
According to court documents obtained by the Sentinel, the KSU officials listed as the defendants in the lawsuit denied any allegations that KSU officials “seek to silence or restrict those who express ideas to which they object, using a myriad of different university policies to effectuate this censorship.”
The defendants also denied that they violated the constitutional rights those within Ratio Christi at KSU, according to court documents.
Ratio Christi originally made these allegations in a complaint against KSU in February earlier this year. The student organization alleged that KSU’s policies on where students can set up displays on campus and speak with students is unconstitutional.
The group “sought to conduct a pro-life display on campus in 2016 and 2017 to prompt dialogue with students and faculty on the issue of abortion,” according to the complaint.
The complaint states that Ratio Christi requested a space on the campus green to set up its display, but it claimed that the university denied its requests and redirected the group to a “speech zone” that the group claimed only comprises less than one percent of the university’s campus.
In the court documents, KSU officials said that the area on campus described by the group “has been referred to by some as a ‘free speech’ area,” and they said that it is the only area that may be reserved for off-campus speakers for “expressive activities.” They admitted that the area comprises a small portion of the campus.
University officials listed in the complaint have requested a jury trial and have requested that “defendants be awarded and plaintiffs be assessed all costs of this action,” according to court documents.
Before filing the response on Sept. 19, KSU filed an extension on the lawsuit. Both parties agreed to the extension as a way “to permit them an opportunity to explore the possibility of resolving some or all of the claims raised in the complaint,” according to the extension.
“The parties have made significant progress toward resolving the claims and issues in this litigation and desire to continue their ongoing settlement efforts,” the extension states.
Alliance Defending Freedom also filed a suit against KSU in March earlier this year on behalf of KSU’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter after the university charged the group an extra security fee to invite a guest speaker to campus. The speaker was Katie Pavlich, a news contributor at Fox News and editor at Townhall Magazine.
The lawsuit states that, by charging YAF the extra fee for the guest speaker and not allowing the group to use student activity fee funding to clear the cost, the university engaged in “viewpoint discrimination.”
KSU also filed an extension for the lawsuit filed on behalf of YAF on Sept. 4, also for the purpose of working to resolve some of the issues brought up within the complaint.
KSU filed another motion to extend the time to respond to the complaint on Sept. 24, according to court documents. YAF agreed to the extension, and the time for KSU to respond to the complaint has been extended to Wednesday, Oct. 3.
