ASU reaches settlement with former student radio manager
An Arizona State University student who sued the school over free speech concerns stemming from a Twitter post about a police shooting settled with the university on Thursday.
Rae’Lee Klein filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Arizona Board of Regents, ASU, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Kristin Gilger, Cronkite’s interim dean, in October, claiming her First Amendment rights to free expression were impinged.
The settlement comes almost six months after Klein posted a tweet that led to backlash from her fellow students and people who worked at Blaze Radio, the student-run station where she was manager.
The case has gained attention in conservative media outlets and some Republican lawmakers have cited it as an example of censorship of conservative perspectives on college campuses.
Parts of the federal lawsuit were dismissed in December, though a judge said then that Klein could still pursue a case against just Gilger.
In January, she sent the university a notice of claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, which signaled she may continue litigation in state court, ASU said in a statement.
Her January notice included an offer to settle for $500,000, ASU said. She agreed a month later to settle for $7,040, as a reimbursement of certain school fees, the university announced.
As part of the settlement, the case would be dismissed, with no admission of liability, and Klein wouldn’t file further claims, ASU said.
Klein will not regain her job as station
manager of Blaze, either. A federal judge denied an injunction to reinstate her position. The university said a new station manager is now in place.
Klein told The Arizona Republic she was happy the parties came to an agreement and to have the matter behind her. She will graduate this year with a double major in journalism and political science and plans to go to law school. She said the case didn’t negatively affect her career path.
“I think now, because of this incident, I’ve developed and grown on that interest” in becoming a lawyer, she said.
Attorney David Bodney, who represented the university, said in a statement that the case was “never about the First Amendment.”
“We never attempted to restrict her speech. Indeed, she spoke freely throughout this controversy,” said Bodney. “Rather, it was her conduct after the tweet, which demonstrated her inability to lead the station, that ultimately led to her removal.”
Bodney has frequently represented The Republic in media law and First Amendment cases.
In the aftermath of police shooting Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23, Klein shared a New York Post article with graphic details from a police report accusing Blake of sexual assault.
The Aug. 29 tweet, which was later deleted, was captioned, “Always more to the story, folks. Please read this article to get the background of Jacob Blake’s warrant. You’ll be quite disgusted.”
Many interpreted her post as justifying or excusing police brutality against Black people. Klein defended it as sharing truthful information and an additional perspective.
The radio station board quickly voted to remove Klein, saying they had lost confidence in her ability to lead the station, but Klein refused to step down.
In the weeks following, Klein said she was told that she could not stay on as station manager and was offered several other job alternatives.
Klein’s lawsuit claimed that ASU was unlawfully preventing her from being station manager based on the content of her speech. It asked the court to rule for her to remain in that position. The federal judge denied that ask.
Because ASU is an entity of state government, it cannot legally deny benefits — like a job at the radio station — on the basis of speech, according to the lawsuit. The university also cannot restrict a student’s right to speech or require a student to endorse a certain public policy view, the lawsuit said.
The school has said Klein was not removed because of the views she expressed, saying it was her conduct in the tweet’s aftermath that made her no longer able to do her job as station manager.
Several radio station board members previously told The Republic that Klein had lost the confidence of those in the organization and caused students at the station to feel alienated.
Klein was not fired as a Cronkite student-employee, but was rather offered several new roles instead of Blaze Radio station manager, including the option of starting her own radio station, ASU said.
Klein’s attorney, Jack Wilenchik, noted in a statement that the settlement sum is seven times the statutory penalty in state law for free speech violations. The sum is nearly five times her radio salary per semester, the statement said.
“I’m happy to see that ASU has, by its actions, finally owned up to its responsibility for not supporting Rae’Lee Klein,” Wilenchik said.
In a statement, Klein said that, although ASU has continued to deny any wrongdoing, “the settlement illustrates an understanding of their misjudgment and lack of support.”
“While cancel culture is alive and well across America’s college campuses, and agendas continue to be pushed, I am proud to stand with a group of young patriots who will not let these actions endure,” she said.
In announcing the settlement, ASU said it is “committed to the pursuit of journalistic excellence that Walter Cronkite personified and the protection of free speech rights under the First Amendment.”
ASU President Michael Crow told The Republic on Friday that he wouldn’t characterize the agreement with Klein as a financial settlement.
“We reimbursed her for some fees, that’s all we did. And whatever she’s making up is basically that — just made up, which is one of her core issues,” Crow said.
Klein’s attorney approached ASU for a settlement discussion, ASU spokesperson Katie Paquet said. If you’re getting sued for $500,000 and the other side agrees to settle for just over $7,000, logical parties would do that, Paquet said.
Crow also noted that Klein is still an ASU student, and while the university could have decided to win in court, they decided to move on.