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Early Thursday afternoon, dozens of students gathered in front of Denny Chimes to protest a recent change to the University of Alabama’s student organization policies, chanting slogans like “Hey hey, ho ho, YAF has got to go!”
“I am out here today because the message that the University sent through its decision is that queer students do not have the same place on campus as any other student,” protestor Vince Rountree explained.
UA Young Americans for Freedom, colloquially known as UA YAF, became the target of students’ ire due to the organization’s recent assertions it caused a controversial change to the non-discrimination statement that student organizations must include in their constitutions.
The UA student paper, The Crimson White, reported in early March that UA YAF had requested and received permission from the school’s administration to strike “gender identity, gender presentation, [and] sexual identity” from the version of the statement in their constitution.
In Instagram comments, an interview with The Crimson White and a post on YAF’s national website, UA YAF president Trenton Buffenbarger has portrayed the request as a principled stand in defense of free speech.
“Our fight was never against the discrimination statement, our fight was against gender ideology and not believing it exists [sic],” Buffenbarger stated. “It’s a first amendment fight because they were forcing us to include something we do not believe in.”
Per Buffenbarger’s telling, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall also played a key part in pressing the university to change its policy. Buffenbarger wrote that Marshall “requested he be added to the email chain for extra pressure” and recommended other YAF chapters across the country try to get similar support from conservative politicians.
Bryce Schottelkotte, the president of UA’s Queer Student Association, doesn’t believe the non-discrimination statement posed any free speech issues. She says Buffenbarger’s argument is just “YAF attempting to hide behind a so-called ‘free speech issue’ to mask their blatant attempt at discrimination.”
“What falls under free speech rights has been decided over and over again in the Supreme Court,” she told APR. “And the time, place, and manner standard they abide by clearly shows UA’s non-discrimination requirement is not an infringement of free speech.”
The Supreme Court also specifically ruled in favor of a university’s ability to require prospective student organizations agree to not discriminate in the 2009 case, Christian Legal Society Chapter v. Martinez.
“Nothing about UA’s requirement of a non-discrimination statement or the statement itself can reasonably be argued as an infringement of First Amendment Rights. Any claim otherwise is nothing more than an attempt to circumvent accountability for discriminatory actions,” Schottelkotte asserted.
A statement sent to APR by Alex House, UA’s associate director of media relations, emphasized that “the University of Alabama prohibits discrimination against any member of our campus community.” It also noted that “membership in registered student organizations continues to be open to all UA students” and all student organizations will now be required to include a revised non-discrimination statement in their constitutions.
The original text of the non-discrimination statement can be read below:
Membership in registered student organizations shall be open to all students of The University of Alabama, without regard to race, religion, sex, ability status, national origin, color, age, gender identity, gender expression, sexual identity, or veteran status except in cases of designated fraternal organizations exempted by federal law from Title IX regulations concerning discrimination on the basis of sex.
The new version with changes in bold:
Membership in registered student organizations shall be open to all students of The University of Alabama, without regard to any federally protected class, except in cases of designated fraternal organizations exempted by federal law from Title IX regulations concerning discrimination on the basis of sex.
House did not respond to APR asking if the University of Alabama maintains a specific list of federally protected classes for the purposes of enforcing university policy.
However, UA’s official non-discrimination notice states that “UA prohibits discrimination on the basis of genetic or family medical history information, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected basis.”
Miranda Andrews, vice president of the Social Work Association for Cultural Awareness and one of the organizers of the protest, told APR she thinks the University’s recent decision was made because the administration “doesn’t care about the experiences of its LGBTQ+ students, they only care about the university’s image.”
She claimed the decision was undoubtedly a product of recent political trends, linking it both to SB129 and the Trump administration’s “attacks on Americans’ civil liberties.”
“This is evidenced by the near-decade of compliance from UA YAF to the requirement of the clause’s inclusion by the university,” Andrews pointed out. “The fact that only now have they been granted an exception cannot be viewed without looking at the greater context, especially when you consider that YAF had to recruit the help of Alabama’s Attorney General before the university allowed the change.”
Protestors at the event also connected the decision to state politics and criticized the prevailing climate at the University of Alabama.
“I have faced discrimination on campus,” Hope Tenca, a sophomore majoring in anthropology, said. “People yelling out of their cars, dirty looks, you know. I just feel as if, especially with SB129 and all the DEI stuff, they are just not keeping us safe and not caring for us.”
Another protestor, computer science major Olivia Allen, explained she used to work at the Safe Zone, a center meant to support LGBTQ+ students at UA, until it was shut down last August due to SB129. “I think that [SB129] allowed flood gates to open, honestly, for them to be able to start doing little things like this,” Allen posited.
Christian Martin, the political director of UA College Democrats, told APR the decision reflects a “general worsening of conditions on campus and across the state for LGBTQ students post-SB129.” In his opinion, it revealed the people running UA “don’t care about their LGBTQ students nearly as much as placating the Ivey Administration and the politicos in Montgomery, like AG Marshall.”
UACD’s communications director, Maddison Hunter, explained that the organization believes the decision may set UA on a slippery slope. “If we don’t stand up now, when will we ever stand up?” she asked. “If we can’t expect UA to go fight for us then we must fight for ourselves.”
UA Young Americans for Freedom did not respond to APR’s requests for comment.
