An Illinois college has settled with a conservative, Christian art student
who claimed the school censored her speech and discriminated against her
after complaints from classmates.

As part of the settlement won by Alliance Defending Freedom, three
professors at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) will take
mandatory training related to free speech on college campuses.

The settlement also stipulates that SIUE officials must revise their
student handbook and policies to "ensure students with varying political,
religious and ideological views are welcome in the art therapy program."

Officials also must pay $80,000 to dismiss the lawsuit successfully.

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The court victory came just over a year after student Maggie Dejon
received three "no-contact orders" from the school that prevented her from
having direct or indirect communication with three students, who claimed
her political viewpoints constituted "harassment" and "discrimination."

Dejong previously told "Fox & Friends First" that she routinely
participated in class discussions on contentious topics such as race
relations, religion, COVID-19 and censorship, typically offering a
conservative perspective.

As her three-year graduate program drew to a close, Dejong received the
no-contact order after her classmates had objected to social media posts
she had made on abortion and defund the police.

ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhoffer said Dejong upset classmates by
defending Kyle Rittenhouse and denouncing critical race theory, eventually
leading to the university-imposed orders that prohibited her from fully
participating in class discussions.

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The university also asked her peers to report her for "harmful rhetoric"
and issued the orders without first allowing Dejong to defend her
position, according to ADF.

University officials have since agreed to revise their policies to ensure
students have "substantive and procedural protections" from no-contact
orders.

Speaking with Fox News Digital, SIUE directed the news outlet to a
statement from Chancellor James T. Minor, who urged people to "see beyond
the sensationalism of clickbait, media reports and headlines in search of
a more complete understanding of the facts."

In the statement, he affirmed that SIUE is "unequivocally committed to
protecting First Amendment rights and does not have policies that restrict
free speech nor support censorship."

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"For decades, universities have embraced the challenge of vigorously
protecting free speech while at the same time creating a safe learning
environment for the expression of diverse views. Protecting these two
principles can create tensions. For example, while the First Amendment
protects free speech (no matter how offensive), it does not protect
behavior on a campus that creates a pervasively hostile environment for
other students. We accept that balancing these two deeply valued
principles of free speech and a safe environment, in real-time, represent
inherent complications for administering prudence," he added.

Minor also said this "delicate balance" invites debate about where such a
"line should be drawn" in each unique case that in today�s world also
typically involves social media.

In a Thursday press release, ADF Legal Counsel Mathew Hoffmann said that
"Public universities can�t punish students for expressing their political
and religious viewpoints. Maggie, like every other student, is protected
under the First Amendment to respectfully share her personal beliefs, and
university officials were wrong to issue gag orders and silence her
speech.

Hoffman, in a statement to Fox News Digital, said: "Universities cannot
censor students because of their religious or political views. But the
University did just that by issuing unconstitutional no-contact orders
against Maggie. This settlement helps ensure that what happened to Maggie
will not happen to any other student. We are hopeful that this free speech
victory opens universities to what they should be�marketplaces of ideas,
not echo chambers for one ideology."

Contentious lawsuits involving Christian students and university officials
have cropped up numerous times in the last several years.

In April, America First Legal announced it ha filed a lawsuit against
County College of Morris (CCM) and its Dean of Students after a student
was allegedly suspended for "hate speech" by citing religious scripture.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/illinois-college-ordered-to-pay-
christian-student-80k-for-silencing-conservative-views/ar-AA1eupHv