Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Lawsuit
Other
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Incident Political Orientation:
Not Clear -
Incident Responses:
Litigation
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Incident Status:
In litigation Federal Court of Appeals
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
Virginia Tech maintained a Bias Intervention and Response Team (BIRT) which introduced policies regarding bias reporting among students. Speech First sued Timothy Sands, the president of Virginia Tech, over the policies’ chilling efforts on speech. FIRE alleged that the policies encouraged students to report each other on speech that was related to bias (which are protected under the First Amendment). A federal district court held that since the BIRT did not have the power to discipline students, there was no injury, and subsequently Speech First did not have standing to bring this suit. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. The U.S. Supreme Court granted cert and vacated the lower court’s decision, dismissing the case as moot, since Virginia Tech has since then changed its bias policies in 2023.
