Three conservative students have sued Texas State University in federal court, claiming a campus speech code suppresses their freedom to dissent on topics ranging from transgender athletes to affirmative action.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Austin in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, says the public school’s harassment and computer policies are so broad that they unconstitutionally limit protected speech on campus and the internet.

“This [speech] code deters students from expressing views that are outside the mainstream about the political and social issues of the day,” the complaint states. “It disregards decades of precedent.”

Speech First, a nonprofit that helps college students file First Amendment suits, submitted the lawsuit on behalf of three current students who asked to be anonymous for fear of retaliation.

The complaint asks a judge to declare the Texas State policies unconstitutional and grant an injunction preventing their enforcement. It names officials from the San Marcos campus and from the state’s public university system as defendants.

In an email to The Washington Times, Texas State University spokesman Jayme Blaschke declined to comment, noting the university was still reviewing the suit.

The complaint quotes the university’s anti-harassment policy as forbidding any “unwelcome verbal, written, graphic, or physical conduct” that creates a hostile atmosphere for others based on their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and other characteristics.

It also quotes from an updated computer policy issued last July that threatens to revoke the email and internet network access of students who use digital resources for undefined “political purposes.” The policy adds that “referral to legal and law enforcement agencies” may occur as a result of reported violations.

The complaint notes that the anonymous student plaintiffs fear “reprisal” on campus for challenging the policies, which they say stifle them from expressing their right to speak out against practices like abortion and illegal immigration.

“Student A is staunchly opposed to affirmative action in college admissions and believes it is just old-fashioned racism by another name,” the complaint notes of one student, a female sophomore.

The complaint follows two similar lawsuits that Speech First won against public universities in federal court last year.

In June, the University of Houston agreed to end a broad-ranging harassment policy and pay $30,000 in court fees to Speech First after a federal judge agreed with three conservative students that it stifled their constitutional right to free speech.

Then in September, the University of Central Florida agreed to pay $35,000 in court fees to Speech First and end its bias response team after another federal judge took the side of students.

Texas State University has implemented similar policies that “restrict how students can discuss politics or any of the societal issues of the day,” Speech First Executive Director Cherise Trump said Thursday.

“Instead, they choose not to speak up, concerned they may be accused of harassment for ‘offending’ someone,” Ms. Trump said. 

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.