The UC system is facing a federal lawsuit over allegations that its anti-harassment policies that prohibit repeated or intentional misgendering violate some students\u2019 First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n
National advocacy group Defending Education argues that systemwide rules punish students for expressing their belief that \u201cbiological sex is immutable\u201d and require them to use classmates\u2019 preferred names and pronouns.<\/p>\n
The complaint names top officials across the university and targets provisions of the systemwide Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment policy, which define repeated or intentional misgendering and deadnaming as prohibited gender-based harassment. All university employees, students and third-parties are required to abide by the policy.<\/p>\n
The advocacy group is asking a federal court to issue a preliminary and permanent injunction barring the UC from enforcing its rules on misgendering and deadnaming \u2014 as well as any similar policies across the university \u2014 and to strike them down as unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the guise of combatting \u2018sexual harassment,\u2019 UC has enacted a speech code that punishes students for engaging in protected speech and discourages them from expressing views outside of the university-approved mainstream,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n
Defending Education \u2014 a nonprofit organization working to \u201cfight indoctrination in classrooms and on campus\u201d \u2014 filed the lawsuit on behalf of four of its student members across UC Irvine, UC San Diego and UCLA.<\/p>\n
According to the complaint, students have refrained from sharing their views on gender identity on- and off-campus because they fear being reported or disciplined for violating the policy.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also takes aim at other university protocols it claims violate the First Amendment, including the Anti-Discrimination Policy\u2019s reinforcement of SVSH guidelines which prohibit harassment based on protected characteristics such as gender identity.<\/p>\n
According to Stett Holbrook, spokesperson for the University of California Office of the President, both the SVSH and Anti-Discrimination policies were developed in accordance with federal and state law. He added that the protocols are implemented in a way that \u201crecognizes the importance of rights to freedom of speech and expression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe University of California is committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming to all while respecting freedom of speech and expression,\u201d Holbrook said in a statement. \u201cThe purpose of these policies is to protect members of the University community from discrimination and harassment, not to regulate protected speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the nonprofit similarly takes issue with the systemwide Sexual Harassment, Anti-Discrimination, Prevention and Education training. Better known as SHAPE, the mandatory course is assigned to students annually to test their knowledge of Title IX policy.<\/p>\n
The program was launched in June 2025 by UC Online alongside the Systemwide Office of Civil Rights, and marked a \u201csignificant advancement\u201d in campuswide training that supported the UC system\u2019s \u201ccommitment to safe and inclusive campus environments,\u201d according to a UCOP website about SHAPE.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit objects to a specific scenario described in the training, where a transgender woman is repeatedly misgendered by her classmate \u2014 who continues to call her by the name she used before her transition, refers to her as a man and complains when she uses the woman\u2019s restroom \u2014 even after she repeatedly asks the classmate to stop.<\/p>\n
The training defines the situation as harassment through the creation of a \u201chostile environment.\u201d The complaint argues that the training scenario is one-sided, since students are not given the option to say that the speech is not harassment.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit argues that these policies are part of a broader trend toward censorship across the UC system, citing recent incidents at several campuses where they allege the speech of students or guest speakers was suppressed.<\/p>\n
Among the incidents mentioned was the recent Berkeley Forum event featuring Google chief scientist Jeff Dean, which was shut down<\/a> after protesters interrupted the program to criticize the use of Gemini AI in the genocide<\/a> in Gaza.<\/p>\n The lawsuit explicitly mentioned UCLA, UCSD and UCI received an \u201cF\u201d in the 2026 Free Speech Rankings of American Colleges, run by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE.<\/p>\n