University of Alabama shutters 2 student magazines, citing federal DEI guidance

A group of student journalists at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa sued the school’s board of trustees on March 23, 2026, alleging that it violated their First Amendment rights and engaged in viewpoint discrimination when it shut down two student magazines in December.

The university told staff and contributors at the two magazines — Nineteen Fifty-Six, which covers Black student life and culture, and Alice, which focuses primarily on women’s fashion and wellness — that they were being closed because they violated guidance from the Justice Department about funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The closures followed a July 2025 memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi to the school and other federal funding recipients on complying with antidiscrimination laws, part of the administration’s effort to reverse DEI policies.

The university cited the memo’s reference to “unlawful proxies” — when seemingly neutral criteria substitute for explicit consideration of characteristics like race — to justify shuttering the magazines, claiming their content was targeted at specific groups, even while anyone was free to participate in their work.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Alabama, challenges this justification, noting that Bondi’s memo “does not mention student publications nor suggest that student publications may constitute or run the risk of constituting ‘unlawful proxies.’”

It went on to allege that the university suspended the magazines “because of their editorial viewpoints, while allowing other University-funded student publications—with different editorial viewpoints—to continue operating.”

“Just as the government cannot exclude from a public forum speech on the topic of religion that may be of interest to people of particular religions, the government cannot exclude speech because it believes the viewpoints expressed may be of particular interest to women and Black students,” it argues.

The suit asks the court to find the University of Alabama’s actions unconstitutional, reverse the suspensions and restore the students’ “right to speak through their publications without discriminatory interference from the University.”

The eight plaintiffs — current and prospective student journalists and editorial board members — are represented by the Legal Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Gabrielle Gunter, a plaintiff who had served as Alice’s editor-in-chief, said in a statement, “The ability to create and contribute to spaces that amplify the voices of college students who hold identities that are typically not reflected in campus media is not only important but necessary work.

“Discrimination based on the views of students who seek to create inclusive media for all students has no place in our society, so it’s really important to me to keep fighting for what is right,” she added.

On March 10, Nineteen Fifty-Six and Alice announced that they were rebranding independent of the university as Sixty-Three and Selene, respectively, with funding raised by the group Media Alumni Seeking to Highlight Equity and Diversity.

However, that was just a temporary solution until the publications can return, one of their attorneys, Antonio Ingram of the Legal Defense Fund, told the Alabama Reflector. For instance, the fundraising group is not able to provide faculty advising on campus.

“I would say right now, they’ve been exiled from campus based on their viewpoint,” Ingram said, “and this is a pursuit to really get them back home again.”

The University of Alabama did not respond to a request for comment.