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Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
College Campuses Are Closing Their Women's and LGBTQ+ Centers
All products featured on Teen Vogue are independently selected by Teen Vogue editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate University of Alabama's Safe Zone center was a haven for LGBTQ+ students in search of community and a support network. Anyone could walk into the Safe Zone lounge in the Student Center and grab a snack, peruse the center's queer library, or chat with the dedicated professional staff who provided specialized resources for LGBTQ+ students. 'The safe zone has given me a safe place to meet friends on a campus where I otherwise feel isolated,' wrote a student whose anonymous testimony was collected in 2024 by the school's Queer Student Association. 'It's a place where I know I won't be judged for who I am and I can safely be myself,' wrote another. Having a safe space and a sense of community on campus was a 'lifeline,' a third student said. Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue Take But in August 2024, all that changed when Safe Zone was closed due to Alabama's SB 129, which prohibits the sponsorship of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and the promotion of 'divisive concepts' in public universities, state agencies, and local boards of education. The center has been transformed into a generic 'Student Leadership Lab.' The closure had a 'dampening effect' on the school's LGBTQ+ community, according to recent Alabama graduate and former Queer Student Association president Bryce Schottelkotte. The whole campus 'used to feel like a lot more of a safe space for being queer,' she told Teen Vogue, 'because there was a specific, university-funded space for being queer.' After the closure, 'It was kind of like, Oh, well, am I even wanted on this campus anymore?' she added. Since August 2023, at least 31 gender- and sexuality-based resource centers have shuttered across 23 college campuses, according to data collected by the Chronicle of Higher Education and additional research by Teen Vogue. Sixteen of those were LGBTQ+ centers, eight were women's centers, and seven fell under a broader category of spaces called 'Gender and Sexuality Centers' or 'Gender Equity Centers.' While LGBTQ+ centers seem to be the most common casualties, other identity-based centers have been swept up too, creating confusion about what counts as diversity, equity, and inclusion and leading to a patchwork of campus offerings. Some schools have also eliminated multicultural offices and resource centers oriented around race. All 31 closures thus far have occurred in states with majority-Republican legislatures. (Nebraska's legislature is officially nonpartisan, but the majority of its members are registered Republicans.) Of those centers, 15 closed after the presidential election, including nine post-inauguration, with students and staff fearful that more closures will follow. There are bills pending in a number of states that could impact offices considered to be related to DEI, including gender and sexuality centers, according to the Chronicle. Other state-level legislation has already taken effect or is currently being implemented. For example, public universities in Ohio are beginning to make changes after Governor Mike DeWine signed a DEI ban in March. The bill requires schools to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs by September. A University of Alabama spokesperson confirmed to Teen Vogue that the closures were a result of government actions, writing in a statement, 'Initiatives, programs, and resources across campus that were not in compliance with applicable state and federal laws have been discontinued.' In addition to state-level actions, the federal government is also playing a major role in opposing DEI, which President Donald Trump has made a cornerstone of his administration. So far, he's threatened the funding of K-12 public schools that have DEI programs, signed an executive order targeting DEI in higher education, and sought to eliminate any such programs within the federal government and private sector companies. Given the already-existing pattern of closures due to state laws, it seems likely that gender- and sexuality-based spaces at universities will continue to dwindle as schools face even more pressure from the new presidential administration to stamp out diversity programs. Although gender and sexuality centers vary from campus to campus, they generally offer both community-building events and tangible services tailored toward the needs of women and queer students ranging from free pregnancy tests to gender-inclusive clothing swaps. Kaz Hayes, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology's Pride Alliance student group, recalled visiting the school's LGBTQIA Resource Center for help with filling out name-change forms with the university. Lilli Hime, who worked as a program coordinator for the University of Texas at Austin's Gender and Sexuality Center before it closed in 2024, recalled fielding questions from students about issues like reporting bias incidents in the classroom or finding gender-inclusive housing and restrooms. All products featured on Teen Vogue are independently selected by Teen Vogue editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate commission. At HBCUs, Some Queer Students Say They Have a Choice: Come Out or Join Divine 9 Greek Life 'The students who came into our center, the problems they had, that was our business,' they continued. 'It was a very tangible, very visible thing. Sometimes, you would see how people entered the space, especially for the first time, and the way their shoulders would un-tense and they would be like, 'Okay, I found a place that can be a home base for me on campus.'' 'These resources are also lifesaving,' Hime added. According to research cited by The Trevor Project, young LGBTQ+ people are about four times as likely to attempt suicide as their peers, with queer youth of color being particularly at risk. These populations are statistically less likely to attempt suicide when LGBTQ+-affirming spaces are available, like gender and sexuality centers on campuses. Some LGBTQ+ centers also offer crisis funds for students in emergencies. 'For queer and trans folks, there's just the greater risk of losing financial support from parents or family or guardians,' Hime said. 'And so having a crisis fund really helped that.' Gender- and sexuality-based identity centers have existed on campuses nationwide for 65 years, since the first college women's center was founded at the University of Minnesota in 1960. Brenda Bethman, who served as director of the Women's Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City until she retired last year, co-edited a book about women's and gender equity centers. Many women's centers, she said, arose in the 1970s out of second-wave feminism in tandem with women's studies academic departments as more and more women began to attend college. When women arrived on campuses, she said, they were 'not always very welcome and not finding their needs accommodated.' Women's centers aimed to meet these needs, providing support in areas like career development or sexual assault response. Bethman noted that women's centers were particularly useful as divorce rates rose and produced a group of women students who needed help finding jobs and childcare. They 'had vastly different needs than a traditional 18-year-old undergraduate,' she said. LGBTQ+ centers started to emerge amid the rise in women's centers and often collaborated or were housed under the same umbrella, Bethman said. Around the late 2000s, 'a lot of centers started changing their name in response to doing increasing work with trans people,' which is why many centers now have broader names like Gender and Sexuality Resource Center or Gender Equity Center. Nikki Hewett, who graduated this spring from UT Austin, says her school's Gender and Sexuality Center was 'kind of what brought me to UT in the first place.' When she heard the news that the center would be closing, 'It definitely felt like, well, what is the point in staying at this school?' Hewett served as president of the Gender and Sexuality Collective, a student group, and wrote an honors thesis documenting the closure of their school's center and its effect on student mental health and well-being. 'Students are experiencing what appears to be grief over losing the center,' they said, noting that many of the students they've interviewed have reported being negatively affected by losing access to the free mental health care the center provided via peer support groups. During her senior year, Schottelkotte also felt the effect of her center's closure. In February, the University of Alabama's Young Americans for Freedom chapter successfully lobbied to be exempt from a requirement that their club's constitution bar discrimination based on 'gender identity or expression, or sexual identity.' Schottelkotte and her peers were left wondering, Who do we talk to about this? 'Because a year ago," she said, "if this had happened, oh, cool, we could have gone to Safe Zone.' Instead, they've had to figure things out on their own. Even before Trump's second term began, a number of institutions of higher education had started to embrace renaming strategies, this time in an attempt to preserve the services housed in DEI offices. That trend has continued since Trump took office, with it appearing that some universities are trying to avoid full-on shutdowns of their gender and sexuality centers by rebranding. Georgia Tech, for example, decided in February to merge its LGBTQIA Resource Center, Women's Resource Center, and Black Culture, Innovation, and Technology group under the Arts, Belonging, and Community department. But Hayes, the university Pride Alliance president, reported that the LGBTQIA Resource Center mostly remains in operation. 'The actual physical room that it's in is not changed, except for the signage,' Hayes said. 'I think more pride flags have actually been put up on the walls' since the announcement, they said, joking. The school's communications team wrote in a statement to Teen Vogue that 'the space and staff that formerly comprised the LGBTQIA+ Resource Center remain active and continue to host community-building events as part of the new department. These services and events are, as they have always been, open to all members of our community.' All products featured on Teen Vogue are independently selected by Teen Vogue editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate commission. Dear Trans Kids, You Don't Need the Government's Permission to Exist Hayes noted that the center's typical programming has mostly continued as usual, but without explicit indications that the activities are tailored to queer students. For example, the center's biweekly 'Queer Coffee House' event is now being advertised in university-approved communications as simply 'Coffee House.' 'What are we going to do for freshman orientation events?' he wondered. 'The resources are here, they're in this building. You just have to go find them.' As far as the future of this center that seems to be hidden in plain sight, Hayes said, 'I'm maybe cautiously optimistic that this is all we're gonna have to do.' But he also expressed doubts that the university could truly protect these resources by rebranding: 'It's kind of naive to think that it's gonna be fine to just rename everything and call it a day.' Some universities, including Georgia Tech, seem to be preemptively complying with anti-DEI sentiment before relevant state laws are even passed. Georgia Tech ordered its DEI center closures soon after state lawmakers introduced SB 120, a proposal to strip funding from public schools and universities that have DEI programs, but the bill was tabled in March. 'These actions are not a direct result of these orders. They are a calculated attempt at risk management,' the school's Pride Alliance wrote on Instagram. 'By redistributing these centers' services to another department, GT is attempting to avoid closer scrutiny. At the same time, these resources will become severely limited in their scope and autonomy.' In a February newsletter to community members, Georgia Tech vice president for Student Engagement & Well-Being Luoluo Hong linked the reshuffling of programming and services on the university level with the Department of Education's directive that month to end racial preferences at educational institutions that receive federal funds and an executive order targeting campus DEI programs, as well as the then-pending state legislation. Texas lawmakers were among the first in the country to pass a DEI ban that effectively wiped out gender and sexuality centers at the state's public universities. After the passage of Senate Bill 17, the University of Houston's LGBTQ Resource Center closed in August 2023, with Texas A&M University and UT Austin following suit. At UT Austin, the Gender and Sexuality Center was renamed the Women's Community Center and stopped hosting explicitly queer-related programming. 'The argument of closing centers for anti-DEI bills is like, 'You're discriminating against people who aren't this identity.' But even when we were an LGBTQ center, we were open to everyone. We've never turned anyone away,' Hime said. 'Whoever needed the center, it was for them.' But ultimately, UT Austin's attempt to reshuffle failed. In April 2024, UT Austin announced that the new Women's Community Center would close. UT Austin communications did not respond to multiple requests for comment. For Hime, who lost their job when the center closed, SB 17 hadn't initially given them much pause: It was 'just another legislative attack' in a line of many in Texas. They recalled a 2011 budget amendment requiring schools with LGBTQ+ resource centers to allocate equal amounts of funding to centers focused on 'family and traditional values.' 'My reaction was just, 'Here they go again,'' Hime said. 'I do not think I could have foreseen how badly it would go.' All products featured on Teen Vogue are independently selected by Teen Vogue editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Condé Nast may earn an affiliate commission. How to Get an Abortion if You're a Teen After Roe v. Wade Was Overturned Hewett worries that the continuing cascade of closures across the US could create 'a separation, like only queer students who can afford to go to a private school would be able to have these resources, and if you can't then you don't have them. And that's just a divide that I think would be really unfair to the students.' For now, gender and sexuality center closures have largely been concentrated at public universities. But Bethman, who edited the 2019 book about women's centers, pointed to recent revocations of federal funds from private colleges like Columbia University as an indicator that funding for programs considered DEI, even at private universities, could be at risk. Private universities also have other entities to answer to, Bethman noted. 'With private schools, it's not always a government push or a legislative push, but it can be the boards,' she said. 'It's kind of hard to know if boards might try to overcompensate and change things.' With so many factors up in the air, students who've lost resource centers are fending for themselves. Hayes's Pride Alliance group is working to fill the communication gap for Georgia Tech's queer community. Schottelkotte's Queer Student Association at the University of Alabama is also shouldering some of the responsibility of supporting LGBTQ+ students, and they've been able to obtain outside funding from organizations like the Alabama ACLU and the school's LGBTQ Alumni Association to put on social events for students who can no longer visit Safe Zone. 'QSA can do its best to make up for the loss of the social aspect of Safe Zone,' she said. 'But I'm a 21-year-old college student. I don't have the ability, the resources, the knowledge, or the funds to make up for everything that Safe Zone once did.' In their thesis research, Hewett has found that many student leaders working to keep the spirit of UT Austin's center alive are 'very tired and stressed' from the responsibility. 'One student mentioned it feels like a full-time job to try and keep these things up. Since, I mean, it was a person's full-time job before.' Beyond the impossibility of students being able to do this full-time work on top of classes and other commitments, Hewett also worried about other far-reaching effects of the Gender and Sexuality Center's closure. 'I am a bit concerned just because of the campus climate,' she said. 'A lot of students…have mentioned being more scared to be queer on campus or in public.' Schottelkotte is hopeful, though, about the future of queer student advocacy. 'Just because the [legislature] in [Alabama's capital of] Montgomery doesn't think that we exist and doesn't think that we should exist doesn't mean that we're going to stop existing,' she said. 'There are a lot of people on this campus who are not going to go quietly.' If you're in crisis or experiencing suicidal ideations, help is available. You can reach the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988. To reach an LGBTQ+-trained crisis counselor, dial 988 and press 3. You can also text with an LGBTQ+-trained counselor by sending the word PRIDE to 988, or you can chat online here. You can also reach out to the Trevor Project's crisis services here, by calling 1-866-488-7386, or by texting 'START' to 678678. Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue Check out more Teen Vogue education coverage: Affirmative Action Benefits White Women Most How Our Obsession With Trauma Took Over College Essays So Many People With Student Debt Never Graduated College The Modern American University Is a Right-Wing Institution
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama officials seek to dismiss lawsuit challenging state DEI ban
The University of Alabama Student Center on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Monday Jan. 13, 2024. Alabama officials argued in a motion to dismiss that professors, students and the NAACP lack standing to sue. (Will McLelland/Alabama Reflector) Alabama officials have filed motions seeking to dismiss a lawsuit challenging SB 129, a law that limits diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in public universities and the teaching of so-called 'divisive concepts.' The Alabama Attorney General's office and members of the University of Alabama (UA) Board of Trustees argue that the University of Alabama professors and University of Alabama Birmingham students suing to overturn the law lack standing and that their claims fail to establish any constitutional violations. The plaintiffs, who also include the Alabama NAACP, allege that SB 129, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the First Amendment. Plaintiffs argue that the law discriminates against minority students and faculty by restricting funding for student groups and eliminating campus spaces designed to support minority students. The attorney general's office claims plaintiffs 'fail to show how each and every provision of the Act harms them,' arguing that plaintiffs 'fail to include sufficient allegations to 'nudge their claim across the line from conceivable to plausible.'' The Board of Trustees stated in a separate motion that the law does not prevent discussions on race but prohibits faculty from requiring students to adopt specific perspectives. 'As it relates to the classroom, SB 129 states that professors may not 'direct or compel' students 'to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere' to one of eight 'divisive concepts' defined in the statute,' the motion states. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The law, which took effect last October, bars public universities from funding DEI programs and prevents discussions of concepts lawmakers deem divisive. It includes prohibitions against 'compelling' students to believe that any race is inherently superior or that people are responsible for historical injustices committed by others of the same race. UAB students, UA professors sue Alabama over state law banning DEI programs Ahead of SB 129's enforcement, universities across the state shuttered or rebranded DEI offices and closed dedicated campus spaces for its Black Student Union and LGBTQ+ resource center. Plaintiffs argued that the law's impact disproportionately affects minority students by restricting funding for student organizations such as the University of Alabama NAACP chapter. Attorneys for the board argued that the plaintiffs' allegations 'do not involve any claim that Black students were treated differently from other students.' 'Plaintiffs instead rely on the precarious assumption that coursework related to diversity benefits Black students 'in particular,' because of their race,' the motion further states. Professor Cassandra Simon, one of the plaintiffs, stated in the lawsuit that she fears discussing racial issues because students have previously expressed feelings of guilt or complicity after watching material on the Civil Rights Movement. Lawyers for the state argue that this does not constitute a First Amendment violation, even if Simon has already faced threats of termination for teaching a class on systemic inequality. The motion stated that 'even construing these allegations as true and viewing them in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, Professor Simon's fear is not objectively reasonable,' saying that simply showing material related to the Civil Rights Movement does not 'direct or compel' students to accept the concept or 'penalize or discriminate' when students aren't in agreement. 'Professor Simon does not have standing to challenge any provision of the Act based on such conduct. The same is true of the other Professors' allegations regarding their subjective fears that teaching 'about' topics could violate the Act,' the motion states. The defense also pushed back against claims that SB 129 is too vague, arguing that the law is clearly defined. 'Though Plaintiffs may not like its terms, the act is readily understood,' the motion states. Plaintiffs have until April 18 to respond to the state's motion. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alabama attorneys defend anti-DEI, ‘divisive concepts' law as protecting university rights
The University of Alabama Student Center on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, AL Monday Jan. 13, 2024. Alabama officials defended its anti-DEI law, asserting universities' right to control classroom instruction and campus space in a court filing.(Will McLelland/Alabama Reflector) Alabama officials pushed back against a lawsuit challenging a 2024 anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) law, arguing in a court filing Friday that university policies restricting certain classroom discussions and reallocating 'limited campus space' do not violate constitutional rights. Attorneys representing the University of Alabama Board of Trustees and other state officials argued in a 33-page response to a lawsuit seeking to overturn the law, known as SB 129, that universities have the authority to regulate classroom instruction. 'Course content and classroom instruction are government speech subject to regulation by the university, not by interest groups or the courts,' the attorneys wrote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The legislation, which took effect last October, bans DEI programs at public colleges and universities. It also prohibits teaching or advocating for what lawmakers deem 'divisive concepts' related to race, sex, and systemic discrimination. The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP and a group of professors and students filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama in January, claiming that SB 129 infringes on their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by limiting discussions on race and gender, defunding certain student organizations and eliminating diversity-related spaces on campus. The plaintiffs also allege that the law imposes unconstitutional viewpoint-based restrictions and disproportionately harms minority students and faculty members. The lawsuit claims that the law has already led to faculty members altering their courses, student groups losing funding and campus spaces previously designated for Black and LGBTQIA+ students being repurposed. Attorneys for the state and the schools argued in Friday's filing that the law does not prevent discussions on race or gender but only prohibits advocacy during class instruction. 'SB 129 specifically allows for the 'teaching or discussion of any divisive concept in an objective manner and without endorsement.' Neither SB 129 nor the University prevent the teaching of concepts that might make a student uncomfortable, or feel shame,' according to the filing. The state also argued that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate any direct harm. 'The student plaintiffs have not been denied funding by the university, as none of the student plaintiffs' organizations have applied for or been denied funding as a registered student organization,' the filing stated. The plaintiffs may respond to the state's filing by March 24. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As ACLU of Alabama celebrates 60th anniversary, group fights to stop anti-DEI law from taking effect statewide
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — As the ACLU of Alabama celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, the group has announced a slate of projects they will take on this year, including fighting against a law that that unravels diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the state. Earlier this month, the organization announced that they had filed a federal lawsuit challenging Senate Bill 129, which prevents public universities across the state from dedicating funding to DEI programs. The law went into effect in October. 'What that means is that DEI offices have had to close at our public universities,' said Alison Mollman, legal director of the ACLU of Alabama. 'But, even more troubling, is that we've seen restrictions on what student groups have access to funding for.' Alabama State Superintendent releases statement regarding ICE and federal funding As an example, Mollman said groups like Alabama NAACP chapters wouldn't have the same access to funding for events like Black History Month, while white groups were not held to the same standard. On Jan. 30, the group, alongside the Legal Defense Fund, filed a preliminary injunction requesting that the court pauses the implementation of SB129. 'In their motion, the plaintiffs argue that the law, Alabama Senate Bill 129 (SB129), has imposed severe viewpoint restrictions on professors and students in public Alabama universities, including classroom discussions and university programs, since it took effect in October 2024,' the ACLU of Alabama wrote in a press release. 'The plaintiffs further argue that it is difficult—if not impossible—to ascertain what exactly is or is not prohibited by SB129 due its vague and confusing language, which further chills their speech.' Mollman said the lawsuit's ultimate aims is to have a federal court declare SB129 as unconstitutional. 'What that would mean is that our plaintiffs and students across the state who have student groups that are based on identity or are based on certain viewpoints wouldn't have that restricted as they are now under SB 129,' she said. 'And it would allow our professors across the state to return to teaching the curriculum and history that's been appropriate for years.' Applications for senior housing development in Birmingham open Feb. 13 The organization, which was founded in 1965, recently announced its 2025 Legislative Agenda, including: Fighting for criminal legal reform Defending the right to vote Ensuring reproductive justice Protecting First Amendment rights The ACLU of Alabama will be hosting a community teach-in on Feb. 15 in Montgomery. Mollman said the free event would be aimed toward educating the public on how the Legislature function, what bills they could expect to be introduced in the next session and how the ACLU will work to fight against certain bills. 'It's one of our priorities to make sure that the public is aware and educated about what's happening,' she said. 'We'll have other community events throughout the spring where folks can choose to tap in on the work that we're doing and learn how they can fight back against laws that harm them and to support laws that are going to make our lives better.' More information on the work being done by the ACLU of Alabama can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UAB students, UA professors file for a stay of Alabama's anti-DEI law
The University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. Professors and students at UA and the University of Alabama Birmingham, as well as civil rights groups are seeking a preliminary injunction against Alabama's SB 129, arguing that the law is unconstitutional. (Getty Images) Professors, students and civil rights advocates filed a motion Thursday seeking a preliminary injunction against Alabama's SB 129, a law they claim imposes restrictions on discussions of race and gender in public universities. The lawsuit was filed on Jan. 14 and brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alabama, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP on behalf of three University of Alabama professors and three University of Alabama in Birmingham students. It argues that the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by restricting academic freedom and imposing vague prohibitions that chill free speech. 'This law undermines the fundamental mission of higher education and erodes students' right to learn in an environment that fosters open dialogue,' said Antonio Ingram, senior counsel for LDF, in a statement. 'SB 129 is at odds with the Constitution's protections of free speech and due process.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The state had not filed a response as of early Thursday afternoon. A message was left with the Ivey's office and the University of Alabama Board of Trustees. The legislation, which took effect on Oct. 1, 2024, bans diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at public colleges and universities. It also prohibits teaching or advocating for what lawmakers deem 'divisive concepts' related to race, sex, and systemic discrimination. The lawsuit claims that educators fear discipline or termination if they discuss topics that could be construed as advocating for banned concepts. Students, meanwhile, have seen funding cut for organizations that support Black and LGBTQIA communities. Plaintiffs argue that SB 129 is overly broad and ambiguous, making it unclear what discussions are allowed. The law includes exemptions for 'objective' teaching of history, but provides no definition of what constitutes objectivity, leading to self-censorship among faculty. University of Alabama professor Cassandra Simon, who teaches a course on anti-oppression and social justice, said she has already faced threats of discipline for class discussions that included systemic inequality. Students have also been directly impacted. The lawsuit notes that the Black Student Union and Safe Zone Resource Center, which provided support for LGBTQIA students, lost access to campus spaces and funding. Student leaders say the law has led to the dismantling of spaces intended to foster inclusion and support for marginalized communities. Alabama officials have defended the law, saying it ensures that taxpayer-funded institutions remain politically neutral and do not endorse controversial ideologies. Gov. Kay Ivey's office has not yet commented on the injunction request. The lawsuit draws parallels to legal challenges in Florida, where courts blocked enforcement of similar legislation under the state's Stop W.O.K.E. Act. Plaintiffs argue that Alabama's SB 129 imposes similar unconstitutional restrictions on academic speech and student organizations. 'Justice demands urgency,' Alison Mollman, ACLU of Alabama legal director, said in a statement. 'Students and professors in our state have dealt with this unconstitutional law for several months and deserve to learn in a classroom that is free of censorship and racial discrimination.' The court had not scheduled a hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction as of early Thursday afternoon. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
