Quote:An Illinois college has settled with a conservative, Christian art student who claimed the school censored her speech and discriminated against her after complaints from classmates.



As part of the settlement won by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), three professors at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) will take mandatory training related to free speech on college campuses.


The settlement also stipulates that SIUE officials must revise their student handbook and policies to "ensure students with varying political, religious and ideological views are welcome in the art therapy program."

Officials also must pay $80,000 to dismiss the lawsuit successfully.

The court victory came just over a year after student Maggie DeJong received three "no-contact orders" from the school that prevented her from having direct or indirect communication with three students, who claimed her political viewpoints constituted "harassment" and "discrimination."



DeJong previously told "Fox & Friends First" that she routinely participated in class discussions on contentious topics such as race relations, religion, COVID-19 and censorship, typically offering a conservative perspective.


As her three-year graduate program drew to a close, DeJong received the no-contact order after her classmates had objected to social media posts she had made on abortion and defunding the police.


ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhoffer said DeJong upset classmates by defending Kyle Rittenhouse and denouncing critical race theory, eventually leading to the university-imposed orders that prohibited her from fully participating in class discussions.