Alabama Students Sue Over Anti-DEI Policies, Magazine Closure

Eight University of Alabama students have sued their institution’s Board of Trustees as well as Gov. Kay Ivey for shutting down their gender- and race-focused magazines, calling the administrative decision a violation of their First Amendment rights, AL.com reports.  

Backed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, the students allege the closure amounted to unconstitutional censorship.

The two student-run magazines—called [Alice] and Nineteen Fifty-Six—were first terminated in December. At the time, Steven Hood, the university’s vice president for student life, explained that both magazines were receiving university funding. They also target specific groups, he said. As a result, they were what the Department of Justice considered “unlawful proxies” for discrimination and had to be shut down.  

“There’s an important constitutional principle at stake that the university should not be able to censor and can’t constitutionally censor student media,” Sam Boyd, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s senior supervising attorney, told AL.com. 

Rihanna Pointer, one of the plaintiffs, in a news release, said she believed “freedom of expression on campus should neither be censored nor restricted because of its perceived value or audience.

“Nineteen Fifty-Six and Alice have always provided a platform for diverse voices and perspectives that are vital for fostering an inclusive community amongst students on campus.”