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University of California Spent Stunning $800K Fighting Student Newspaper That Mocked Safe Spaces

University of California Spent Stunning $800K Fighting Student Newspaper That Mocked Safe Spaces

“this poorly constructed attempt at censorship cost California taxpayers: $824,317.86”

The student paper in question here is a satirical publication. It’s amazing that the school wasted such a huge sum of money on this battle.

The College Fix reports:

University of California spent $800,000 trying to cripple student newspaper that mocked ‘safe spaces’

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scolded the University of California-San Diego a year ago for trying to shut down a satirical student newspaper by defunding all campus media.

It reinstated the First Amendment lawsuit by The Koala, which had drawn the ire of student government leaders and administrators for mocking “safe spaces.”

The parties settled last month, and thanks to a public records request by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, we know exactly how much this poorly constructed attempt at censorship cost California taxpayers: $824,317.86.

As FIRE said Friday, “that’s just north of 1,820 times the amount of money [$452.80] The Koala was denied under the unconstitutional funding change.”

The settlement gives The Koala $12,500 and a minimum $1,500 reimbursement for its print costs from the student government each academic year as long as it fulfills the requirements for official recognition. Its lawyers at the region’s ACLU affiliate get $150,000 in attorney’s fees and costs.

Then there’s the money the University of California spent on its own lawyers, which makes the settlement look like chump change: $662,317.86.

The first invoice from Chicago’s Schiff Hardin is from May 24, 2016, a week before The Koala actually filed suit. The law firm would submit 30 more stretching to Oct. 6 of this year, ranging from a low of $94 on May 4, 2017 to a high of $110,000 on April 21 this year. About half the invoices are five figures. There’s also an invoice from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe on Nov. 8, 2019 for more than $150,000.

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Comments

Clovis Sangrail | October 14, 2020 at 4:19 pm

Please don’t complain. Every time something like this happens the left lose a little bit of credibility. Looking at Biden’s turnouts, that’s starting to hurt.
I just pray the same thing will happen in the UK.

It never occurred to them that tyranny might have a cost to the tyrants.

    Dr S in reply to irv. | October 17, 2020 at 3:51 pm

    It would be a real cost to the tyrants if that $800,000 came out of the pay and retirement due to those who made the decision to defund the student newspaper.

Sounds like UCSD would benefit greatly from a change in administration, although expecting the Sacramento government to act intelligently is a forgone pipe dream.
It’s pathetic. I was stationed in SD in the 70’s and late 80’s. It wasn’t nearly as insanely Marxist then. (sigh)

The Koala should be awarded $824K in punitive damages. Do like the liberals do, if you want to slap someone down, endow their opponent to torment them for eternity. Let the liberals be tormented this time.

We should chip in and send the administrator responsible for this a box of chocolates from Gibsons. No, wait, send it to the kids on the Koala, since they likely pay more attention to the news than the admins and lawyers do.

SeekingRationalThought | October 15, 2020 at 8:54 am

This is why academics should never be put into positions of power and authority. They are paid to think abstractly, not to actually accomplish anything and therefore lack the skills to do or run an organization. All the IQ in the world isn’t enough to make up for ignorance. And today’s academics don’t have much in the way of IQ or smarts. They are the product of an educational establishment that trains students in dogma and therefor cannot teach students to think critically and independently. This is why most academics are inferior people these days.