(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) After fighting with their institution of alleged higher learning — Georgia Gwinnett College — since 2016, two evangelical Christians, Chike Uzuegbunam and Joseph Bradford, have finally won their legal battle and received $800,000, according to Campus Reform.
The legal case eventually reached the Supreme Court, but everything started in the spring of 2016, when officials from GGC restricted the First Amendment rights of Uzuegbunam by telling him that he couldn’t share his evangelical Christian beliefs on the college campus.
To have an opportunity to speak “freely” at GGC — a public college funded by taxpayers’ money — a student needed to book an appointment in one of the two designated free speech zones, which at the time made Uzuegbunam think that his rights were being infringed.
Uzuegbunam agreed to abide by the school’s policy, but that didn’t satisfy the guardians of woke.
After he complied with the tyrannical mandates, the college restricted his freedom of speech again when a campus police officer told him to stop because some students were not okay with his rhetoric. He was apparently violating a campus policy that prohibited speech that “disturbs the peace and/or comfort of person(s),” Campus Reform reported.
The college tried to save its reputation from the legal consequences by changing its free speech policies after Uzuegbunam went to court.
The Supreme Court didn’t buy it and ruled that the plaintiff was still entitled to damages from violations of his human rights given by the Constitution of the United States, even if the college conveniently changed its policy to avoid the punishment.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Travis Barham, who represented both Uzuegbunam and Bradford in the case, told Campus Reform that even though GGC tried to avoid the legal consequences, eventually, justice was served.
“[For] years after [GGC] violated his rights, GGC officials tried to dodge accountability, as if the rights they violated did not really matter,” he said.
“But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Chike’s favor, saying that government officials do not get a free pass when they violate our liberties.”
According to Barham’s words from the ADF statement, the verdict of the trial assured other students that officials from their colleges and universities do not have a right to be tyrants on campuses and take away constitutional rights.
“[This] settlement represents a victory not only for Chike and Joseph but also for many other students who wish to exercise their constitutionally protected freedoms on the campuses of Georgia’s public colleges and universities,” he said.
