Riley Gaines reacted to the court ruling, ‘sadly, we see this all the time.’
On Friday, a law firm celebrated victory when a federal court judge granted the University of New Mexico (UNM) a preliminary injunction over the “hefty” security fee it charged for a conservative student-organized event.
Kimberly Hermann, Executive Director of the Southern Legal Foundation (SLF), announced in a press release on Friday that “this is a major win in the battle to protect the First Amendment rights of college students, regardless of the viewpoint they express.”
Southern Legal Foundation (SLF) took legal action against the University of New Mexico in February, claiming that they “engaged in viewpoint and content discrimination” when they asked conservative groups to pay security fees “based on the officials’ subjective assessment of the crowd’s potential reaction” a speech event by Riley Gaines.
The university attempted to charge students over $5000 in security fees for hosting Riley Gaines, the women’s sports activist and former NCCA swimmer. Gaines has been a fierce opponent of transgender athletes participating in women’s sports. Due to her presence on college campuses, she has faced much criticism and protests at her speaking events.
Hermann told the media that the verdict is the first step in making the initial injunction permanent. The case is ongoing, and the preliminary injunction prevents the university from collecting money from Turning Point USA (TPUSA) until it is settled.
The institution will not be able to publish TPUSA for the inability to pay the fees while the case is still in court. Herman stated that the university’s policy surrounding speaking events is “so vague that the university can impose whatever fees it wants for any event” and that their legal seeks to stop them from doing so.
Following SLF’s victory in the lawsuit, Hermann stated that assuming the judge continues to accept their claims and rules the same when the case is over will significantly affect the university.
She stated: “Now, TPUSA is the only conservative student organization left at UNM. They basically run every other conservative or libertarian student organization out of campus.”
She went on to say, “But it will mean that TPUSA can now have Riley come speak, and they can’t assess them any higher security fees than they would assess for any other event.”
In a press release, Gaines stated, “Sadly, we see this all the time.” Gaines, a former Division I athlete and the director of the Riley Gaines Center and the Leadership Institute, rose to fame after competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
She also hosts an Outkick podcast called “Gaines For Girls.”
Gaines added, “Conservative student voices are silenced on campus through excessive fees blamed on security, like in this case, or other red tape that makes it harder for conservative students to use their voice on campus.”
