Nonpartisan free speech org. calls out college's 'discrimination' against conservatives

A nonpartisan free speech group alleged that a Pennsylvania university engaged in viewpoint discrimination when it denied status to a conservative student group.

The Foundation of Individual Rights in Education says that the University of Scranton student government discriminated against students seeking to form a Turning Point USA chapter when it voted against granting them official student group status.

FIRE says it sent a letter to the university urging the administration to intervene, citing the school's stated student code of conduct, which says that "freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom of the individual must be preserved."

According to FIRE, the school sent back an "unsatisfactory response" in which it "stood by" as the student government "turn[ed] students’ rights into a popularity contest."

"We ask again that you identify a viewpoint-neutral reason for the rejection or, in the alternative, a substantive explanation as to how viewpoint discrimination is compatible with the promises Scranton makes to its students," FIRE wrote in a second letter to the university.

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