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College grad files lawsuit to end mandatory tuition that supports liberal activist group

Posted on by angelo
College grad files lawsuit to end mandatory tuition that supports liberal activist group

The state university system says it must collect tuition fees by law

St. Cloud State University and Students United are facing a lawsuit over mandatory fees that the plaintiff says violate her First Amendment rights.

The federal lawsuit, filed by the Liberty Justice Center and the Upper Midwest Law Center on behalf of Tayah Lackie, argues that the mandatory fees to support Students United’s political activism violate the First Amendment rights of Lackie and other students.

The state filed a motion to dismiss on Monday.

Lackie only discovered she was funding this political speech after she graduated. She opposes initiatives like FCK Student Debt because she “paid for college myself without going into debt.”

The complaint claims that Students United is “a private corporation created for the purpose of engaging in political discourse, advocating for and taking positions on controversial policies and legislation, and purporting to speak on behalf of all students.”

Lackey’s attorneys argue that this fee collection is a form of forced free speech and therefore violates students’ First Amendment rights.

Jacob Huebert, president of the Liberty Justice Center, said The solution via email, “a victory in this case would establish that state colleges and universities cannot force students to pay fees to an activist group just to be allowed to attend.”

The current fee is “80 cents per credit,” according to the Liberty Justice Center complaint.

But Ms. Lackie said she received little information about the fees the university charged to fund the group. It wasn’t until 2024 that she saw the fees on her “account statement” that indicated the fees had been deducted. “Other than these account statements, neither St. Cloud State nor Students United informed Ms. Lackie that she was required to pay any fees to Students United,” the suit alleges.

The money goes to the Minnesota State University student body, also called Students United, for lobbying activities. This includes pushing for a taxpayer bailout of student loans.

The complaint alleges that Students United “receives the majority of its funding – 76%, according to its projections for fiscal year 2024 – from mandatory student tuition fees.”

The complaint also states that “students…are not informed of their right not to associate with Students United” and have “no opportunity to waive their right not to associate with Students United.”

Minnesota state spokesman Doug Anderson said: The solution for colleges Universities collect fees in accordance with the law.

He said The solution that “Minnesota Statute 136F.22 requires the State of Minnesota to recognize a statewide student association for state universities, to make all students at state universities members of that organization, and to require each state university to collect fees on behalf of that organization.”

Anderson said via email that “St. Cloud and other Minnesota state universities follow this statute” when collecting fees for Students United.

Students United’s media representative did not respond to two of these questions. The solutionCalls and voicemail.

She also did not respond to an email sent in recent weeks seeking comment on the lawsuit.

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IMAGE: Student Debt Cancellation Fund/X

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