The University of Alabama Student Center on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL Monday Jan. 13, 2024. Alabama officials defended its anti-DEI law, asserting universities' right to control classroom instruction and campus space in a court filing.(Will McLelland/Alabama Reflector)
Alabama officials pushed back against a lawsuit challenging a 2024 anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) law, arguing in a court filing Friday that university policies restricting certain classroom discussions and reallocating “limited campus space” do not violate constitutional rights.
Attorneys representing the University of Alabama Board of Trustees and other state officials argued in a 33-page response to a lawsuit seeking to overturn the law, known as SB 129, that universities have the authority to regulate classroom instruction.
“Course content and classroom instruction are government speech subject to regulation by the university, not by interest groups or the courts,” the attorneys wrote.
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The legislation, which took effect last October, bans DEI programs at public colleges and universities. It also prohibits teaching or advocating for what lawmakers deem “divisive concepts” related to race, sex, and systemic discrimination.
The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP and a group of professors and students filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in January, claiming that SB 129 infringes on their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by limiting discussions on race and gender, defunding certain student organizations and eliminating diversity-related spaces on campus.
The plaintiffs also allege that the law imposes unconstitutional viewpoint-based restrictions and disproportionately harms minority students and faculty members.
The lawsuit claims that the law has already led to faculty members altering their courses, student groups losing funding and campus spaces previously designated for Black and LGBTQIA+ students being repurposed.
Attorneys for the state and the schools argued in Friday’s filing that the law does not prevent discussions on race or gender but only prohibits advocacy during class instruction.
“SB 129 specifically allows for the ‘teaching or discussion of any divisive concept in an objective manner and without endorsement.’ Neither SB 129 nor the University prevent the teaching of concepts that might make a student uncomfortable, or feel shame,” according to the filing.
The state also argued that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate any direct harm.
“The student plaintiffs have not been denied funding by the university, as none of the student plaintiffs’ organizations have applied for or been denied funding as a registered student organization,” the filing stated.
The plaintiffs may respond to the state’s filing by March 24.
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Author: Alander Rocha