NOTRE DAME, Indiana (LifeSiteNews) — Student journalists who exposed a pro-abortion professor at the University of Notre Dame are now seeking more than $100,000 in attorney fees after defeating a defamation suit triggered by their coverage.
Last year, Notre Dame sociology professor Tamara Kay sued the university’s independent student newspaper, The Irish Rover, over its coverage of her pro-abortion activism, specifically two articles that included a photo of her office door bearing the message, “This is a SAFE SPACE to get help and information on ALL Healthcare issues and access — confidentially with care and compassion,” as well as a letter “J,” meant to denote unofficial assistance in accessing abortion pills. Kay had also reportedly offered to assist with abortion costs and shared abortion travel financing information on social media.
“I am not actively doing that,” Kay claimed when asked about promoting abortion, which she then amended to “I am doing that as a private citizen, so that’s been cleared by the university… I talked to the dean and have also spoken to ND Media about policies.” Her defamation complaint, filed last May, claimed the Rover’s reporting on her door sign was “false and defamatory” because the sign did not explicitly mention abortion pills, and asserting that several quotes from the College Democrats meeting never occurred, such as her encouraging students to exercise academic freedom for abortion advocacy. She alleged that the Rover’s coverage led to her being harassed and threatened. The paper stood by its reporting.
Last month, Justice Steven David of St. Joseph County Superior Court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that Kay did “not present any evidence that shows that The Irish Rover had any doubts about the truth of their statements before they were published,” that the paper’s statements were made “with a reasonable basis in law and fact,” and that Kay had no reasonable expectation that her pro-abortion advocacy would “not become newsworthy at Notre Dame and elsewhere.”
Now, Rover journalists are seeking more than $177,928.30 in attorney fees under Indiana’s Anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (Anti-SLAPP) law, The College Fix reported.
“The Anti-SLAPP law also requires the person who filed the meritless suit to pay the attorney’s fees for the defendant,” said pro-life attorney James Bopp, who represents the student journalists. “That is exactly what happened to The Irish Rover and is why the court dismissed Dr. Kay’s lawsuit. Now, Dr. Kay will be obligated to pay The Irish Rover’s attorney’s fees.”
“Indiana’s Anti-SLAPP law provides a way for defendants who are accused of defamation without any basis in law and fact to recoup their attorney fees and is intended to be a deterrent for people bringing these types of frivolous cases,” he added. “My firm concentrates on defending First Amendment rights — we were happy to defend The Irish Rover’s right to free speech in this case.”
The case is slated to be heard on March 11.
The University of Notre Dame says that the “Catholic intellectual and moral traditions provide the underlying foundation for our aspirations as a community of scholars and administrators and shape the spirit with which we engage each other and the world,” but in recent years its commitment to that foundation has been called into doubt.
In 2022, Notre Dame’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications promoted multiple pro-abortion articles co-authored by Kay on social media despite the university’s official policy to “recogniz(e) and uphol(d) the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death,” “(c)onsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church on such issues as abortion.”
Other past Notre Dame violations of Catholic principles include participation in LGBT “Pride” Month, mandating COVID-19 vaccines despite their use of fetal cells from aborted babies, insuring abortifacient birth-control methods, inviting pro-abortion former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos to deliver its 2023 commencement address, and last fall hosting a drag show.