After settling a free-speech lawsuit with Ohio University, Isaac Smith spoke to fellow students Tuesday night.
The Ohio University student who filed a lawsuit against the university over an alleged infringement of free speech, held a “mini-talk” about the case Tuesday night.
Isaac Smith met with roughly 15 students and faculty in a Bentley Annex conference room, where he discussed his case’s history and his thoughts following the settlement. The talk was arranged by OU's political science department.
“It’s really cool to see people having conversations about what is the purpose of the first amendment,” Smith, a senior studying political science and Spanish, said.
The case was settled Monday, before ever reaching court. OU agreed to pay Smith $6,000 and his attorneys $26,000. The university also agreed to change wording in the student code of conduct based on Smith’s complaints, according to the settlement documents.
The code of conduct previously stated that no student could act in a way that “demeans, degrades, disgraces any person.” It will now read that any “act of discrimination or harassment that violates Ohio University policy” is an offense.
“We got what we wanted,” Smith said. “We wanted the Code of Conduct to be changed and the university agreed. We got it so that the university was going to guarantee an immediate change.”
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Smith filed the lawsuit in July 2014 after OU officials allegedly told him and other members of Students Defending Students to not wear shirts that said “We get you off for free.” The lawsuit was filed in conjunction with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
Administrators never told students not to wear the T-shirts nor threatened to punish students for wearing them, OU Spokeswoman Katie Quaranta said in a previous Post article.
Instead, “a discussion occurred when administrators suggested to the student organization that the T-shirts might inhibit their efforts to serve other students,” Quaranta said.
In the discussion, Smith said he and other members of Students Defending Students had previously tried to change the code of conduct through the university’s Review and Standards Committee.
“We’d already been talking about changing the code of conduct for awhile,” Smith said. “The lawsuit was the more effective way of getting the code changed overall.”
Though Smith and other members of Students Defending Students had tried to change the code in the past, Smith said they did not have communication with the university about the specific incident before the lawsuit was filed.
Smith also said he found working with OU’s administration to change policies difficult.
“When you’re working in that system, it does get kind of hopeless,” Smith said. “They haven’t listened until now. When you’re able to really get some change through, it’s reassuring that you can actually get stuff done sometimes.”
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am095013@ohio.edu
