GMU law students vindicated, unlawful no-contact orders lifted

ADF attorneys favorably close free speech lawsuit on behalf of two students who voiced concerns about men accessing women’s restrooms

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Two months after filing a lawsuit against George Mason University, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys have reached a favorable settlement agreement with school officials on behalf of two students at the Antonin Scalia Law School.

Two weeks after third-year law students Selene Cerankosky and Maria Arcara expressed concerns about men in women’s restrooms in a private student group chat regarding another student’s proposal to add feminine hygiene products to male restrooms, GMU, without any explanation or warning, issued no-contact orders that prohibited them from having any contact with the other student. After ADF attorneys sued GMU for unlawfully enforcing its Title IX and Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion sexual harassment policy against the students for merely expressing their views, the university agreed to rescind the no-contact orders. GMU also agreed to change its policy to ensure that no-contact orders cannot be used to suppress, coerce, or punish the exercise of First Amendment rights and to pay Selene and Maria $15,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees.

“Universities—especially law schools—should be places of debate and discussion, and GMU has shown its commitment to this ideal with the settlement it reached with Selene and Maria,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “We applaud Mason for engaging in a dialogue about how no-contact orders are used on campus and for working with ADF to improve its procedures. ADF hopes these new measures will allow the university to continue to support students, maintain a safe environment, and foster the robust exchange of ideas that is the cornerstone of a college experience. Selene, Maria, and their fellow law students can now feel more confident that their fundamental freedoms of speech and religion will be respected on campus.”

In light of the settlement in Cerankosky v. Washington, ADF attorneys filed a notice of dismissal of the case Friday. In a similar case, ADF attorneys successfully defended a graduate student at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville after the school punished her with no-contact orders for sharing her religious beliefs with other students on social media.

• Pronunciation guide: Langhofer (LANG’-hoff-ur)

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.

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