George Mason University has agreed to pay $15,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees to two female students who were disciplined for raising objections to stocking tampons in men’s restrooms.
Attorneys for Selene Cerankosky and Maria Arcara, third-year students at the GMU Antonin Scalia Law School, dropped Friday their free-speech complaint filed in November after the university agreed to rescind its no-contact orders preventing them from interacting with a male classmate.
George Mason also agreed to change its policy “to ensure that no-contact orders cannot be used to suppress, coerce, or punish the exercise of First Amendment Rights and pay Selene and Maria $15,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees,” said the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the students.
“Universities—especially law schools—should be places of debate and discussion, and GMU has shown its commitment to this ideal with the settlement it reached with Selene and Maria,” said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel and director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom.
“We applaud Mason for engaging in a dialogue about how no-contact orders are used on campus and for working with ADF to improve its procedures,” he said.
The women were banned from having any contact with the male classmate after they raised concerns on the “Scalia Law ‘25” GroupMe chat in September about his proposal to stock menstrual hygiene items in both men’s and women’s restrooms.
“After the male student solicited comments in an open discussion, Cerankosky responded to the post saying that, if women accessed male restrooms, she believed that men would seek to access private female spaces, which would violate her safety and privacy as well as her religious convictions about human sexuality,” said the alliance. “Arcara voiced her agreement with Cerankosky’s concerns along with other students, but the male student accused them of bigotry.”
He complained to the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Two weeks later, the university issued the no-contact orders forbidding any interactions with the male student.
Transgender advocates have pushed for schools to offer tampons in boys’ and men’s rooms to accommodate female students who identify as men, also known as transmen.
Mr. Langhofer said the disciplinary action put the students’ careers in “serious jeopardy,” but that the changes would benefit all students as well as the university.
“ADF hopes these new measures will allow the university to continue to support students, maintain a safe environment, and foster the robust exchange of ideas that is the cornerstone of a college experience,” he said. “Selene, Maria, and their fellow law students can now feel more confident that their fundamental freedoms of speech and religion will be respected on campus.”
The notice of dismissal was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria Division).
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.