Student newsrooms back Stanford Daily in free speech lawsuit against Trump officials

At least 55 student news organizations have voiced support for The Stanford Daily in its lawsuit against Trump administration officials over free speech violations, a national student journalists organization said.

According to the Student Press Law Center, it joined campus newsroom leaders nationwide and two other major college journalism organizations — Associated Collegiate Press and College Media Association — in filing an amicus brief last week. The brief allows groups not directly involved in the case to express support and provide information or arguments that may help the court reach its decision.

The lawsuit, filed in August by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression on behalf of The Stanford Daily, accuses Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and other officials of using federal immigration laws to revoke international students’ visas for constitutionally protected speech.

The complaint specifically highlights cases involving students who criticized Israel’s military strikes in Gaza and President Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

Student publications from Ivy League schools to public universities signed the brief, including the Harvard Crimson, Yale Daily News, the Dartmouth, the Cornell Daily Sun, the Brown Daily Herald, the Daily Pennsylvanian, the Daily Princetonian, UCLA’s Daily Bruin, the Daily at the University of Washington, the Diamondback at the University of Maryland, the Daily Emerald at the University of Oregon, and the Huntington News at Northeastern University, among others.

The case’s first hearing is scheduled for Nov. 19 in federal court in San Jose.

“Student media is where the next generation engages with the essential skills and principles of democracy,” said Gary Green, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, in a statement. “When the government threatens international students for exercising their right to free speech, it doesn’t just silence those students — it undermines the core principles that make student journalism, and our democracy, possible.”

In an editorial last week, the Daily Bruin said it formally backed the brief noting that campus press freedom has declined under the Trump administration.

“Editors across the country have documented the impacts of this repression on students’ ability to publish,” the paper wrote. “Fearing deportation, a student on an F-1 visa stopped writing opinions for The Stanford Daily, and another two international students withdrew an op-ed from The Duke Chronicle. Just last month, The Purdue Exponent was forced to lay off its international student staffers to avoid risking their legal status in the United States.”

“We signed onto this brief because we believe a legal ruling is necessary to protect the right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment,” the paper added. “We believe threatening international students with deportation is unjust and stifles free expression.”

Stanford has also seen a strong pro-Palestinian student movement emerge over the past two years, including sit-ins and overnight campouts that began shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military assault on Gaza.

As similar encampments appeared at universities nationwide, Stanford students intensified their call for the university to divest from what they said were business interests tied to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

Although the Stanford Daily has only reported on these events and has not taken an editorial stance on divestment from Israel, the newspaper — which operates independently of the university — said the Trump administration’s immigration policies have had a chilling effect on its coverage.

“As a result of the administration’s actions, we saw a dramatic drop in the number of international students willing to speak to The Daily,” the editors said in an op-ed published in August. “Those who did requested anonymity, which — while important in some cases — can undermine our overall credibility.”

They added that many student journalists, especially non-citizens, have also become afraid to write for the newspaper.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied the lawsuit’s allegations.

“This lawsuit is baseless and political,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously said in an email to this news organization. “DHS doesn’t arrest people based on protected speech. DHS takes its role in removing threats to the public and our communities seriously, and the idea that enforcing federal law in that regard constitutes some kind of prior restraint on speech is laughable.”

In an unrelated campus incident last year, Stanford Daily reporter Dilan Gohill was among 13 people arrested during a pro-Palestine demonstration at the university president’s office. The university and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen later declined to pursue disciplinary or criminal charges against the student journalist. Eleven of those individuals are expected to stand trial next month for felony vandalism.

Stanford University has also faced criticism over its handling of campus free speech.

A university subcommittee identified incidents of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias, while a separate report documented cases of Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students.