Conservative student group sues Penn State over alleged First Amendment censorship
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Uncensored America sued Penn State, alleging repeated viewpoint discrimination.
- Lawsuit cites funding denials, event restrictions and failure to prevent violence.
- Student group seeks constitutional relief under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
A conservative student group alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that Penn State and its administrators have systematically suppressed their free speech by denying funding, restricting event locations and failing to protect them from violence.
Uncensored America and its President Sean Semanko allege the university has repeatedly applied unwritten policies to censor controversial viewpoints while permitting unrestricted expression from left-leaning groups.
“Penn State’s actions create a regime of unbridled administrative discretion that invites viewpoint discrimination and chills obvious political speech in a quintessential public forum,” Semanko wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges violations of the First Amendment’s free speech and expressive association clauses, as well as the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The group asked a judge to declare Penn State’s policies unconstitutional and is seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Penn State declined comment Thursday, citing the university’s general policy to not comment on pending litigation. President Neeli Bendapudi, Student Leadership and Involvement Director Jeff Zapletal and the university’s allocation committee were also named as defendants.
Allegations in the lawsuit date back to October 2022, when Uncensored America was scheduled to host a lecture at University Park featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes and “professional troll” Alex Stein.
The event was canceled at the eleventh hour because of what Penn State described as a “threat of escalating violence.” Video showed one protester spit on Stein, while a Centre Daily Times reporter and photographer saw a hate group sympathizer shower pepper spray on protesters opposing the speech.
One woman was seen lying on the ground, near 10 empty water bottles, while her friends poured water over her eyes. Another student who said he was caught in the cross-fire kept pouring water over his eyes as he walked away from the scene alongside a friend.
Uncensored America claimed in the lawsuit that protesters were the ones who deployed pepper spray into the crowd. Students and community members later criticized the Penn State police response.
In a statement after the cancellation, Bendapudi blamed both sides and portrayed the university as being caught between two groups while trying to uphold free speech.
The lawsuit further claimed the 2022 incident was not isolated, but part of an ongoing pattern of viewpoint discrimination that continued into this month when the co-host of a controversial podcast appeared at a debate table on the Old Main patio.
The student group alleged Penn State used subjective, changing criteria — such as “police availability” and a need for “secure spaces” — to hinder the debate.
“These criteria invite censorship: the 2022 cancellation responded to protester violence rather than preventing it, while 2025 denials cited phantom risks disproven by the spontaneous event,” Semanko wrote.
It appears to be the second lawsuit of its kind filed by Uncensored America. The organization sued the University of South Carolina in September 2024, and voluntarily dismissed it three months later.