A recent graduate of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota is suing the university administration, alleging that she was forced to pay a fee that went to a liberal student activist group.
Tayah Lackie filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in May, with assistance from the Liberty Justice Center and the Upper Midwest Law Center.
Lackie’s lawsuit contends that a mandatory fee going to a political agenda that she disagrees with violates the First Amendment because it compels speech.
“A state school can’t make you pay a political group just to be enrolled,” Liberty Justice Center President Jacob Huebert said.
“The Students United scheme violates students’ First Amendment rights, and we look forward to the courts saying so in our case.”
The lawsuit alleges that all students at St. Cloud State must pay “union dues” to a group called Students United, which “advocates for and takes positions on controversial policies and legislation, and which purports to speak on all students’ behalf.”
The lawsuit then proceeds to give examples of Students United making political statements and expressing potentially controversial political advocacy.
“For example,” the lawsuit details, “Students United has aggressively advocated for the abolition of student debt—including through a website called ‘Fck Student Debt’ and a Twitter/X account, @FckStudentDebt.”
“According to the website, Fck Student Debt is ‘a special project by Students United to eliminate all of the student loan debt created by higher education institutions in the state of Minnesota and to push federal legislators to cancel student loan debt,’” the lawsuit explains.
On Students United’s website, the group states that its “vision” is to “create the model of inclusive higher education policies and leadership.” The group currently has a “Director of Student Leadership & Equity,” and each of the group’s officers have pronouns following their names on their bios.
Yet, despite specific political arguments being made by Students United, the lawsuit states that “every” student in the Minnesota State Colleges and University system “is forced to associate with and subsidize Students United and its speech—even if the student disagrees with it.”
The state of Minnesota filed a motion to dismiss Lackie’s complaint on July 15.
Campus Reform has contacted St. Cloud State University, the Liberty Justice Center, and the Upper Midwest Law Center for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
