[April 28, 2025] Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) reached a settlement that marks a major win for free speech in their case against the University of New Mexico (UNM) for viewpoint discrimination against students with conservative views.

SLF fought to stop unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination against Leadership Institute and the Turning Point USA chapter at UNM after the university attempted to charge the conservative organization nearly $10,000 in security fees to host speaker Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer and advocate who speaks about her personal experience competing against a biological male in college.

In a huge victory for students at UNM and across America, the university has changed its policies to protect the rights of free speech against discriminatory fees. UNM now guarantees that no conservative organization or speaker will be unfairly discriminated against through exorbitant security fees simply because they are conservative. UNM must also pay over six figures in attorneys’ fees as a result of the lawsuit, which SLF brought at no cost to the students.

Southeastern Legal Foundation Executive Director Kim Hermann said, “We hope this case will serve as an example for colleges everywhere who think they can discriminate against student groups with conservative viewpoints. No university should be imposing fees on student groups arbitrarily just because they want to suppress their speech. We are happy UNM is now protecting the First Amendment rights of students, and we hope more university students will speak out and contact us at SLF through our website if they feel like their free speech rights are being suppressed.”

Download press release.