Lawsuit against Virginia Tech bias response team may land before Supreme Court

A recent federal court ruling siding with Virginia Tech’s bias response team has prompted center-right watchdogs to call for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case to protect free speech in higher education.

The controversy centers on a 2021 complaint from Speech First, a nonprofit committed to safeguarding freedom of speech on college campuses, which argued Virginia Tech’s Bias Intervention and Response Team policies and procedures infringe on students’ ability to speak freely about controversial issues.

Plaintiffs included conservative students who “censor what they say, hide their views on social or political issues, and avoid speaking up in the classroom because they know they can be reported by their peers to the University’s Bias Incident Response Team,” according to Speech First.