Streissand strikes: UCali sheds $800,000 of "liberal" legal tears - so sad :D - [PEACE]

[Zenaan Harkness]

The Streissand effect strikes again, this time in North America's liberal shirt-hole, Califor-ni-a (where else..), to the tune of over $800,000 in liberal UCali tears :D

The irony is that there's nothing "liberal" about stopping free speech or warring against free speech.

Enjoy,


   California University Spends $800,000 Trying To Shut Down Satirical Student Newspaper, Fails
   https://www.theepochtimes.com/university-of-california-spends-800000-trying-to-shut-down-satirical-student-newspaper_3537295.html
   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/california-university-spends-800000-trying-shut-down-satirical-student-newspaper-fails

      The University of California’s failed attempt to shut down a
      student-run publication satirizing “safe spaces” and “trigger
      warnings” has resulted in over $800,000 in legal fees.
      https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-university-of-california

      At the center of the legal dispute was a November 2015 article
      from The Koala,
         https://thekoala.org/2015/11/16/ucsd-unveils-new-dangerous-space-on-campus/
         [WARNING: NSFW words in that link]

      a satirical student newspaper at the University of California, San
      Diego (UCSD), known for publishing articles with crude humor and
      racial slurs.  The article, entitled “UCSD Unveils New Dangerous
      Space on Campus,” mocked the idea that students needed a “safe
      space” on campus by suggesting that the university should equally
      respect certain students’ needs to have “dangerous space.”

      In the aftermath, the UCSD student government denounced The Koala
      for “the offensive and hurtful language it chooses to publish” and
      in retaliation, denied funding to all student media outlets.

      The Koala then filed a First Amendment lawsuit in 2016, arguing
      that the university was withholding funds to censor their speech.

      A federal judge tossed the lawsuit in 2017, but the 9th Circuit
      Court of Appeals overturned the decision in 2019, acknowledging
      the change in UCSD’s funding policy as a means to prevent The
      Koala from excising its freedom of speech.

      The Koala and UCSD settled the case last month, with the
      university paying the newspaper $12,000 and $150,000 more to cover
      attorneys’ fees. According to a public records request by the
      Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a First
      Amendment advocacy group, the University of California had spent
      an additional $662,317 on its own lawyers.
      https://www.thefire.org/university-of-california-invoices-re-the-koala/

      Throughout the 4-year legal battle, the university hired different
      law firms that usually charged five figures for their services.
      The records suggest that the first invoice came from Chicago’s
      Schiff Hardin, which would submit 30 more invoices from 2016 to
      October 2020, ranging from less than $100 to $110,000. There was
      also an invoice from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in November
      2019 for more than $150,000.

      By contrast, the funding originally allocated for The Koala was
      only $450.

         “For those keeping track at home, that’s just north of 1,820
         times the amount of money The Koala was denied under the
         unconstitutional funding change,” FIRE’s Adam Steinbaugh wrote.

         “If speech ain’t free, it’ll cost the taxpayers and
         tuition-paying students a pretty penny.”

      Since 2015, many colleges and universities have designated safe
      spaces where students could go to escape from the stress of
      controversial ideas. Some others, notably the University of
      Chicago, rejected the concept, holding that college students
      should learn to navigate though controversial topics rather than
      avoid them.

      “Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support
      so-called ‘trigger warnings,’ we do not cancel invited speakers
      because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not
      condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where
      individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with
      their own,” a letter to UChicago’s Class of 2020 read (pdf).
      https://news.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/Dear_Class_of_2020_Students.pdf