Judge allows MU Palestine student group lawsuit to move forward

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) -

A federal judge will allow a lawsuit against the University of Missouri to continue over the exclusion of a Palestinian rights student group from the 2024 Homecoming parade.

Judge Stephen Bough ruled against MU on Wednesday in its request to dismiss the case against system president Mun Choi. The school argued that Choi was protected by qualified immunity in his decision to bar Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine from participating in last year's parade.

MSJP sued the school in August over claims that Choi's decision violated the group's First Amendment right. The school had cited safety concerns over the group's participation, and MSJP claimed Choi put them through a stricter process of applying for a spot than other groups.

Lawyers for MU argued that Choi was protected by qualified immunity, since his denial did not violate a clearly established constitutional right that "a reasonable person would have known.” Bough agreed with attorneys for MSJP in arguing that public universities may not discriminate on viewpoints when they've opened up a public forum for expression.

"It is well established that '[t]he government must abstain from regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction,'" Bough wrote. "Regardless of whether the 2024 Homecoming Parade is a limited or unlimited designated public forum, the government cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination."

Bough earlier this year ordered the school to work with MSJP on its 2025 parade float. Gadeir Abbas, National Deputy Litigation Director at CAIR, applauded the judge's decision in a statement on Thursday.

“President Choi excluded MSJP and only MSJP from the 2024 parade because he did not want the parade to contain pro-Palestinian speech,” Abbas said. “This type of censorship constitutes viewpoint discrimination, in clear violation of the First Amendment.”