(gentle music)
- There's a famous saying on free speech,
"I disapprove of what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Unfortunately, that's not at all
where our nation's public universities stand today.
Instead, their message is often the opposite,
"I not only disapprove of what you say,
but I will keep you from saying it."
My name is Maggie Dejong,
I face the real world impact of this attitude
as a graduate student
at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
There, school officials and classmates banded together
to punish and censor me,
to cancel me for speaking my mind
and sharing my Christian faith,
and engaging in honest dialogue
on important issues of our day.
Trouble came to a head in my third and final year
of the art therapy program at SIUE,
I had chosen to go into the field of art therapy
because I care deeply
about helping other people heal from their trauma.
Art therapy is a mental health profession
that facilitates communication
when words are too hard,
it gives clients a creative outlet
to calm both body and mind,
to engage in the therapeutic process.
My class was made up of an 11 student cohort,
we spent a ton of time together,
not only in the classroom setting,
but through internships,
and day to day involvement in each other's personal lives.
We got along together well,
but because of my Christian faith and political beliefs,
I often disagreed with my classmates
and professor's stances on hot button cultural issues
like religion, critical race theory,
COVID-19 regulations, Marxism,
ironically enough, censorship.
I express my views on these topics
during classroom discussions,
on my social media accounts,
and in conversations with fellow students.
Little did I know that some of my fellow students
would use my protected speech against me.
Around midway through my third and final year
in the program,
I received three no contact orders from school officials
banning me from having any contact
or even indirect communication
with three of my fellow students.
The orders gave me no way to appeal the decision
or even no what I was accused of,
in fact, there wasn't even a finding
that I had violated any rule or policy,
that's because I hadn't.
Even so, officials threatened that if I violated the orders,
I faced unspecified disciplinary consequences.
The university even copied a police officer on the orders.
What's more, the head of my program
even texted an alumnus telling her
that I was burning bridges
after I spoke with the media
about the unconstitutional no contact orders.
I was utterly humiliated,
I felt so hurt, so confused,
so betrayed by people I had trusted.
I lost sleep, I struggled with anxiety,
I lost my appetite and had trouble concentrating on my work.
A good reputation is built slowly, one plank at a time,
and as I watched it go up in flames all in a moment,
I couldn't help but wonder
what that could mean for my future career.
I kept racking my brain,
what had I said or done
that could have sparked this kind of outrage?
It wasn't until I reached out to
Alliance Defending Freedom for legal help
that I found out.
In response to a letter from ADF,
school officials pointed in large part
to my social media posts,
expressing my religious and political beliefs.
One of my classmates also took issue
with a private message exchange between us
where I had said that my personal beliefs
are grounded an objective truth
by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Months later, that very phrase was used
in a public art exhibit on campus entitled,
The Crushing Weight of Microaggressions.
Within two weeks of ADF getting involved,
school officials canceled the no contact orders
and called off the investigation,
but that doesn't make up for their willingness
to violate my constitutionally protected freedom of speech.
It also doesn't erase the fact
that they trampled on my right to due process,
to even know what policy I was allegedly violating
and to have a chance to defend myself
before they issued the orders.
The damage to school has done
by violating these rights is real and lasting.
Everyone in the program has witnessed what happens
when someone calmly disagrees with the prevailing wins
of what everybody is supposed to believe
on hotly debated issues.
It creates fear,
and keeps other students from fully engaging
in the marketplace of ideas.
Their views deserve to be heard.
I don't want this to happen to anybody else,
so with ADFS help,
I filed the lawsuit against my school,
calling upon officials to make permanent changes
to protect free speech on campus.
Our right to free speech doesn't hinge
on whether those in power approve of what we have to say.
Officials at schools like SIUE
need to rediscover that simple truth
and apply equally to each and every student,
including those with whom they disagree.
To see more stories like mine,
you can visit adflegal.org/freedom-matters.
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