EVMS settles lawsuit over single-payer healthcare student group

An Eastern Virginia Medical School student has settled a lawsuit that alleged school officials violated his First Amendment rights.

Edward Si said EVMS officials refused to overturn a Student Government Association decision denying his request to set up a chapter of a national group that supports single-payer health care.

EVMS spokesman Vincent Rhodes said the school denies that characterization of what happened.

Si’s lawsuit said the SGA refused to recognize his group and so let it use school facilities for meetings and events, saying it “does not want to create clubs based on opinions, political or otherwise, and the mission and goals of your club do not describe what we believe to be necessary or sustainable for a club.”

The lawsuit said EVMS officials rebuffed six separate requests for help from Si and the free speech group, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, that worked with him in his bid to set up an EVMS chapter of the Students for a National Health Program.

So he sued. The SGA approved Si’s group the day after he filed suit.

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“When FIRE reached out, we actively investigated what happened and worked with the Student Government Association to improve its processes. The club was subsequently approved. We are glad the issue could be resolved to the satisfaction or Mr. Si, FIRE and EVMS,” Rhodes said.

Si said that with the settlement with EVMS, its Board of Visitors and senior administrators, the school has revised its student group recognition policies to prevent future viewpoint discrimination.

Si had argued that EVMS’s policies were vague and gave Student Government Association members unfettered discretion to deny some student clubs school resources available to others. At the time the SGA turned his group down, it authorized a Christian fellowship group, a group that advocated for abortion rights and another focused on social inequality in medicine.

With the settlement, “I hope that future students, faculty, and university administrators will learn the importance of the First Amendment and freedom of expression,” Si said.

“Because of Edward’s dedication, we believe EVMS students can now express themselves more freely and join with others of like-mind on campus without fear of viewpoint discrimination,” FIRE attorney Jeff Zeman said.

A 1972 Supreme Court decision says public universities can’t deny recognition to student groups on the basis of a political viewpoint. That case involved student efforts to organize a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society at Central Connecticut State College.

Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com