First Amendment Archives

FIRE Publishes Additional Resources for Fraternal Groups

Timothy M. Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which has a remarkable record of defending the freedom of speech, association, and due process rights of students and faculty members across the country, has...

Biden Administration Issues Q and A and Responds to Court Decision on Title IX Regulations that May Predict New Regulations

Tim Burke, Fraternal Law Partners, tburke@manleyburke.com Clearly, addressing the issue of sexual assault on campus remains a priority of the Biden administration. CNN reported that on Thursday, July 28, President Biden spoke to a “Summit” sponsored by Its On Us,...

“ALL COMERS” NON DISCRIMINATION POLICY: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship et. al. v Board of Governors of Wayne State University;

Stephen R. Bernstein, Stephen R. Bernstein Law Offices, srb@srbernstein.com United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; Case 3:19-CV-10375 Introduction: Plaintiffs, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship et.al., brought this lawsuit against Defendants, who are board members and administrators at...

Public University Attempts to Ban All Fraternities and Sororities

Micah Kamrass, Fraternal Law Partners, MKamrass@manleyburke.com On May 13, 2021 Bloomsburg University’s President sent a two-sentence email to the student body. The email stated: "Effective immediately, Bloomsburg University is terminating its fraternity and sorority life (FSL) program and severing ties...

Federal Court Dismisses Attack on Single-Sex Membership of Fraternities at Yale

Clark Brown, General Counsel, North American Interfraternity Conference In 2018, several female Yale undergraduates, all members of a student group named Engender, brought claims for discrimination in a place of public accommodation in the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and...

FIRE Responds to Ohio University’s Unconstitutional Restrictions

Tim Burke, Manley Burke LPA, tburke@manleyburke.com The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) weighed in on how Ohio University [OU] initially handled its broad investigation into alleged instances of misconduct by fraternities, three sororities, the University band, and its...

New Hampshire Law Infringes on Voting Rights

Tim Burke, Manley Burke LPA, tburke@manleyburke.com On behalf of two Dartmouth College sophomores, the ACLU has filed suit in United States District Court to block a New Hampshire state law that would require college students who register to vote in...

Update: Court Agrees with DOJ, Rules Against the University of Iowa

Ilana Linder, Manley Burke LPA, ilana.linder@manleyburke.com In the January 2019 Newsletter, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) intervention in a case against the University of Iowa was high- lighted. Specifically, the DOJ took the position that the University had engaged in...

Who is Discriminating Against Whom?

Ilana Linder, Manley Burke, ilinder@manleyburke.com Over a year ago, a small student group that was deregistered by its university filed a lawsuit against the school. Just last month, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened, filing a brief in support of...

Two Lawsuits Filed Against Harvard

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On December 3, 2018, two separate lawsuits, one in federal court and one in state court, were filed against Harvard by several Fraternities and Sororities. The suits challenge Harvard’s controversial decision to penalize students who...

USC Deferred Recruitment Case Now in Court of Appeals

Tim Burke, Manley Burke LPA, tburke@manleyburke.com The constitutionality of the ability of public universities to require deferred rush has long been discussed but not yet tested in court. That is, until now. But that test has been brought against the...

Update on USC Deferred Recruitment Case

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The June 2018 issue of Fraternal Law reported that five of the Greek Chapters at the University of Southern California filed suit in state court challenging the University’s imposition of deferred recruitment. The lawsuit relied...

New Lawsuit Challenges Deferred Recruitment at USC

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On June 22nd the chapters of Kappa Alpha Theta, Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi, Theta Xi and Tau Kappa Alpha at the University of Southern California (USC) filed suit against the University.1 The suit seeks...

GUILTY! A National Fraternity Criminally Convicted

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com “AND NOW, this 21st day of November, 2017, the defendant, Pi Delta Psi Fraternity, Inc., having been found guilty of Count III, Involuntary Manslaughter, County IV, Aggravated Assault, Count V, Criminal Conspiracy, County VI, Hindering...

Even the Unpopular Have Associational Rights

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com In the late 1960s, campuses across the country were tense places. The free speech movement had grown from the steps of Sproul Hall at Berkeley into protests against the war in Southeast Asia on virtually...

Are Schools Abusing Interim Suspensions?

Micah Kamrass, Manley Burke, mkamrass@manleyburke.com Lately, we at Fraternal Law Partners have noticed a troubling trend. Public colleges and universities seem increasingly willing to impose interim suspensions on fraternities and sororities without providing any justification or a timeframe for an...

Deaths, Assaults, and Injuries Lead to Campus-Wide Bans on Greek Life

Daniel McCarthy & Micah Kamrass, Manley Burke, mkamrass@manleyburke.com In just the last few months, a number of universities have experienced terrible tragedies on their campuses. Many of these schools, both public and private, have responded by indefinitely banning some or...

Publisher’s Note on Associational Rights

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Greg Lukianoff makes his point in the accompanying article in a harsh and potentially upsetting way. But it has great validity. Those chapters that lose track of the purpose for which their national organization was...

Beware of Unconstitutional Social Media Policies

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media are growing in popularity and importance on a daily basis. The advances in technology are moving at the speed of light but schools are not as quick to...

Wise Use of Free Speech

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Two recent events demonstrate the ability of national fraternities and sororities to deal with conduct that is inappropriate but may not constitutionally be treated as a violation of the policies of state universities. A few...

SUPREME COURT ISSUES IMPORTANT FREE SPEECH CASE

Daniel McCarthy The United States Supreme Court just decided a highly controversial First Amendment Free Speech case. The case, Snyder v. Phelps,1 involved protests that the Westboro Baptist Church frequently conducts at military funerals. This specific case involved a protest...

U.S. SUPREME COURT LIMITS FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

James Harvey Freedom of association, as applied to student organizations, took a significant step back as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez.1 The case may or may not have far-ranging implications, but...

ARGUMENT HELD IN U. OF FLORIDA CHRISTIAN FRATERNITY APPEAL

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held oral argument on December 10th in Beta Upsilon Chi v. Machen.1 The case involves whether the University of Florida must recognize the Christian fraternity as an official student...

JUICYCAMPUS.COM CREATES QUESTIONS, AND HEADACHES

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke A relatively new website is generating increasing concerns on campuses across the country. Juicycampus.com, officially launched on October 24, 2007, states that its seemingly harmless “simple mission” is “enabling online anonymous free speech on college campuses. ...

CHI IOTA COLONY V. CSI: WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY

Gregory Hauser, Wuersch & Gering, LLP The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion on September 13, 2007, that poses a potential problem for social fraternities and sororities asserting freedom of association rights against public...

SAM AND CHAPMAN U. SETTLE FIRST AMENDMENT DISPUTE

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com As reported in the November 2007 issue of Fraternal Law, Chapman University in California was recently threatened with litigation by the California Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The complaint arose because a...

SECOND CIRCUIT REVERSES FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION CASE

Daniel McCarthy, Manley Burke The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently handed down its decision in Chi Iota Colony of Alpha Epsilon Pi v. City University of New York,1 one of the more important cases for Greeks in years. The...

CASE UPDATES

Dan McCarthy, Manley Burke Updates on three recent cases recently reported on in Fraternal Law: The University of Iowa has appealed the trial court’s decision in Phi Delta Theta House Assn. and Iowa Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta...

JUDGE DENIES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION MOTION

Dan McCarthy, Manley Burke As previously reported in the November, 2006 issue of Fraternal Law, the Omicron Chapter of Sigma Chi, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and comprised of students attending Dickinson College, recently filed suit against the College.1 The primary...

FIRE STUDY BLASTS USE OF SPEECH CODES

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com On December 6, 2006, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) issued a scathing report criticizing American colleges and universities for their continued use of “speech codes.” Their recent report, entitled “Spotlight on Speech...

INSULTS AND STUPIDITY LEADS TO SUSPENSION

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Sophomoric humor at the expense of racial or cultural minorities has enormous opportunity to bring disrepute to fraternal organizations whose members engage in it. Such was the case when the Sigma Chi Chapter at John...

BALANCING UNIVERSITY NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICIES AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT: THE CLASH BETWEEN UGA AND BYX

Elizabeth Hutton At numerous universities across the country, heated conflicts have arisen between universities that have adopted nondiscrimination policies and fraternal and other organizations that on the one hand wish to restrict membership to those who hold specific religious beliefs...

APPEAL FILED IN AEPI FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION CASE

Dan McCarthy, Manley Burke The City University of New York, College of Staten Island (“CSI”) recently appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals the August 11, 2006 opinion from the United States District Court that granted the Chi Iota...

UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT SPEAKS FOR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

A recent controversy at Northern Kentucky University is worth noting for the statements by the University President, James C. Votruba. A campus Right to Life organization chose to make its position on abortion known, after going through proper University channels,...

FRATERNITIES PROTECTED AS INTIMATE ASSOCIATIONS

“For the reasons set forth above, the court grants Plaintiff’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction on the basis of their intimate association claim” -- with those words, United States District Judge Dora L. Irizarry upheld the right of Alpha Epsilon...

THE NIC AND NPC FILE BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF SINGLE-SEX ORGANIZATIONS

Dan McCarthy, Manley Burke As previously reported in Fraternal Law, Alpha Epsilon Pi (“AEPi”) is fighting to protect the First Amendment Freedom of Association rights of its members at the City University of New York College of Staten Island (“CSI”). ...

FIRST AMENDMENT VICTORIES

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Center for Law and Religious Freedom has engaged in a series of lawsuits intended to protect the rights of private student organizations to maintain membership selection practices which deny membership to those who do...

ALPHA EPSILON PI FIGHTS FOR FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

Robert Manley, Manley Burke Alpha Epsilon Pi has recently initiated two lawsuits to defend the freedom of association of undergraduates who want to join their Fraternity. One is against City University of New York in connection with its branch campus...

A RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION AND EXPRESSIVE ASSOCIATION RIGHTS

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The right of religious-oriented student groups to enforce their religious principles on the organization’s officers and members is coming under increasing national debate. Many universities have policies that prohibit campus organizations from discriminating based upon...

IS THERE STILL SPEECH FREEDOM?

Robert Manley, Manley Burke A professor at Rhode Island College, a tax supported institution in Providence, survived an institutional witch hunt. Professor Church volunteered her time as a coordinator for Rhode Island College’s Cooperative Preschool Program. While she was not...

PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR FRATERNITIES CAUGHT IN THE BATTLE FOR FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS

Greg Lukianoff* & Matthew Vasconcellos I. Introduction While there is no shortage of free speech battles on college campuses, fraternities have the dubious honor of being at the center of many of the least sympathetic controversies. From Halloween parties where...

NEW YORK SUIT SEEKS TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION RIGHTS

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com In December, a local fraternity in Alfred, New York, and several students of Alfred University, brought suit against Alfred University and the State University of New York (SUNY). The suit challenges the actions of Alfred...

NATIONAL RESOLUTION SUPPORTS FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

On March 22nd, the Association of Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA) will complete voting on a resolution designed to encourage a recognition of the First Amendment Freedom of Association Right of America’s college students. The resolution, already approved by the Association’s...

SPEECH CODE ENJOINED

As reported briefly in the September 2003 edition of Fraternal Law, Shippensburg University, a public university, was enjoined from enforcing parts of its speech code until a trial on the merits challenging the constitutionality of the speech code is held.1...

SPEECH CODES REMAIN UNDER ATTACK

Tim Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has launched a campaign to eliminate campus speech codes. While acknowledging that few universities today maintain what they label as “speech codes,” FIRE defines speech codes as...

FIRST AMENDMENT BATTLE WAGES IN COURT

Mackenzie Becker First Amendment battle between a religious student group and university officials just began in the United States District Court of New Jersey. On December 30, 2003, the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) filed a lawsuit...

BLACK FACE CONTROVERSY REDUX

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com Two of the University of Virginia's oldest fraternities - Zeta Psi and Kappa Alpha - hosted a Halloween party in 2002 at which at least three costumed students painted their faces black or brown....

FIRST AMENDMENT PERMITS MUSLIMS TO EXCLUDE WOMEN

Timothy M. Burke, Manley Burke, tburke@manleyburke.com The Nation of Islam held a "Men's Meeting on Black on Black Crime, Violence and Drugs in Communities of Color" in the City of Boston-owned McCormick Center. Louis Farrakhan was the principal speaker. Women...

KLAN COSTUMES OR BLACK FACE - THE AFTERMATH

Tim Burke, Manley & Burke The January 2002 issue of Fraternal Law, which reported on fraternities whose Halloween parties had included members dressed in Ku Klux Klan costumes, black face and Afro wigs was primarily intended to discuss the abilities...

YALE STUDENTS LOSE CLAIM UNIVERSITY VIOLATED THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke The challenge by four Orthodox Jewish students to Yale University's policy requiring freshman and sophomores to live on campus ended in defeat recently when the United States Supreme Court declined to hear their appeal....

THE CONTINUING CONTROVERSY OVER MANDATORY STUDENT FEES

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke As reported in Fraternal Law in September 2000, the University of Wisconsin has unsuccessfully struggled attempting to defend the constitutionality of its mandatory student fee system. In 1996, a group of conservative students and...

FIRST AMENDMENT GOVERNS KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY

Robert E. Manley, Manley & Burke The First Amendment Rights of Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Association are so complexly intertwined, that if they are withdrawn from any student group, the action harms all student groups and everyone else...

DUE PROCESS DENIED AT PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke A new decision1 by a federal court in Cincinnati stands in stark contrast to the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in the Brandeis case. The Brandeis court refused to recognize the...

U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES ON MANDATORY STUDENT FEES

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke In March, the Supreme Court of the United States1 ruled unanimously that public universities may charge a mandatory student activities fee and use those fees to support a wide variety of advocacy student organizations...

BOY SCOUTS RULING SUPPORTS FRATERNITY RIGHTS

James C. Harvey Mr. Harvey is an attorney in Newport Beach, California. He is a member of Phi Delta Theta and a member of the NIC Law Committee. On June 28, 2000, the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling...

OHIO COURT DECLARES HAZING STATUTE VAGUE

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke In a newly reported decision, an Ohio trial court struck down a portion of Ohio's Anti-Hazing statute for vagueness, but allowed a hazing victim's claim to proceed. Charles Carpetta was a student at the...

ASSOCIATION RIGHTS OF CHAPTER DENIED

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke Last summer, the United States District Court in Pennsylvania struck a blow to Pi Lambda Phi's efforts to regain recognition at the University of Pittsburgh.' In its decision, the Court gave surprisingly little credence...

ASSESSMENTS OR CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATION?

Timothy M. Burke, Manley & Burke Several major universities are now considering, or attempting to implement, "assessments" of the Greek systems on their campuses. The Center for the Study of the College Fraternity is serving in an advisory role to...

PRIVATE ACTION FOR FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

A new law that guarantees Freedom of Association to students on privately funded campuses that receive federal support may give rise to private lawsuits against colleges and universities. (Public Law 105-244.) A substantial article published in the DEKE Quarlerly, and...

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