University of California, Santa Barbara: Viewpoint Discrimination in Student Activity Funding

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University of California, Santa Barbara

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Case Overview

FIRE Victory closed

UCSB's student government, the Associated Students, repeatedly engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination against the College Republicans by denying funding for a speech by conservative author David Horowitz due to Horowitz's expression and viewpoints. After the Associated Students Finance Board (ASFB) voted that the group should receive no funding, the group appealed to the Associated Students Legislative Council (ASLC). According to the minutes of both meetings, student government members gave many unconstitutional reasons for not funding the event, citing Horowitz's views, past expression, and possible future expression. The ASLC also voted to remove the record of the ASFB's earlier discussion from public view, and student government leaders apparently lied to UCSB officials about the situation after FIRE intervened. UCSB officials provided conflicting information to FIRE and the College Republicans for months before finally producing documentation demonstrating that it had provided most of the funding that the ASFB had denied.

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