A conservative group filed a lawsuit against the UC on June 18, alleging that the University’s sexual harassment policies and anti-discrimination training violated free speech.
Defending Education, a national organization, alleged that by defining deadnaming – the practice of intentionally using a transgender person’s given name rather than their lived name – as potential sexual harassment, the UC has suppressed students’ opinions.
The UC Board of Regents, UC President James Milliken and chancellors from UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Irvine are the defendants in the case. Defending Education claimed that four of its members are current UC students, one from UCLA and three from other campuses.
The lawsuit said the UC’s sexual violence and sexual harassment policy is too broad and vague, and fosters compelled speech – forced speech by the government that the speaker disagrees with – and viewpoint discrimination.
The UC could dismiss students by classifying verbal acts as creating a “hostile environment,” the lawsuit said.
The policy defines “hostile environment” as severe, persistent or pervasive sexual conduct that interferes with or denies another person from accessing the university.
“Being compelled to use an individual’s preferred pronouns or names prevents Student A from expressing that core belief—and, in effect, surrenders the debate before it begins,” the lawsuit said.
The UC Office of the President did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Defending Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Defending Education also alleged in the lawsuit that a scenario question from the UC’s Sexual Violence and Harassment, Anti-Discrimination, Prevention and Education training did not give students the option to say that non-gender-affirming behavior does not count as harassment.
Students across the UC are required to complete the training annually.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, another free speech organization, alleged in November that the University’s anti-discrimination training’s content around deadnaming could restrict free expression.
[Related: Free speech group alleges SHAPE training restricts UC students’ speech]
Defending Education asked the judge to bar the UC from enforcing its hostile environment and deadnaming policies, and declare it unconstitutional.
The lawsuit alleged that the UC’s sexual violence and sexual harassment policy violated the First and 14th Amendments by barring protected speech and punishing students for using non-gender-affirming language.
The unnamed UCLA student member of Defending Education was compelled to speak in gender-affirming language and self-censor because of the University’s policy, the lawsuit said. It alleged that she feared punishment under the policy and had her student account placed on hold for not completing the training.
“Marketplaces of ideas wither without open discourse and debate matters of gender identity and the fixed nature of biological sex,” Defending Education said in a June 18 press release. “Speech codes like those in UC’s SVSH policy impose vague, overbroad, content- and often viewpoint-based restrictions on speech.”
