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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGregorio Olivares Gutierrez stands outside The Crow Museum of Asian Art on the University of Texas at Dallas campus. He is suing the university for free speech violations. Photo by Hannah Everett\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGregorio Olivares Gutierrez stands outside The Crow Museum of Asian Art on the University of Texas at Dallas campus. He is suing the university for free speech violations. Photo by Hannah Everett\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Hannah Everett<\/p>\n
On Oct. 15, 2024, former editor-in-chief of The Mercury, Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez, received an email from the University of Texas at Dallas administration saying he was\u00a0under investigation for discrimination. This was the day he knew he would have to pursue legal action against the college.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Olivares Gutierrez, a current UTD student, filed a lawsuit against the school\u2019s administration last week for free speech<\/a> and press freedom violations.\u00a0<\/p>\n The investigation, which the school informed him of a month after firing him, was for \u201cdiscriminatory harassment,\u201d filed by a student who had submitted a letter to the editor for publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n The lawsuit claims the university administration jumped at the opportunity to silence Olivares Gutierrez, as they had long clashed with the editor-in-chief over the publication\u2019s critical reporting on the administration.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Sign up for the This Week\u2019s Top Stories newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to doing student journalism, there\u2019s a lot of really important things that we cover, and unfortunately it doesn\u2019t always paint our school in the best light when we have to cover scandals with professors or different sorts of things that are going on at that high end level of the university.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it is important that we cover it truthfully nonetheless. In my time doing so, I angered a few university administrators who now see fit to weaponize parts of university policy to strip students of their free speech,\u201d Olivares Gutierrez said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The suit, filed last week<\/a> in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, claims UTD violated Olivares Gutierrez\u2019s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Dallas attorney Griffin S. Rubin, a partner at Sbaiti & Company PLLC and a member of the\u00a0FIRE Legal Network, represents the student and took the case pro bono, Olivares Gutierrez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy problem has always been with the university acting as if it knows better than the law, as if students aren\u2019t real people who have real rights,\u201d Olivares Gutierrez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n What happened<\/p>\n In July 2024, Olivares Gutierrez accepted the letter to the editor from the president of UTD\u2019s Hillel chapter to be published in The Mercury. The letter went through the publication\u2019s editing process and Olivares Gutierrez requested the writer substantiate claims with appropriate sourcing. The writer declined to do so through multiple rounds of back-and-forth feedback, and the story was published with a disclaimer stating the piece did not meet The Mercury\u2019s journalistic standards and should be read as the author\u2019s opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n