SRVUSD Settles With Student Who Posted Controversial Video

DANVILLE, CA — A former San Ramon Valley High School student will receive an apology and $665,000 from the San Ramon Valley Unified School District in a free speech lawsuit settlement. The case involved a video that former junior class president Nathaniel Yu, 17, posted that was described as anti-Muslim, Bay Area News Group reported.

The video Yu posted apparently featured students posing as Muslim terrorists, and students with fake guns and what appeared to be a real gun, the paper reported. Yu's team described the video as a "James Bond-style parody video," in a news release.

SRVUSD reacted by pulling Yu's junior class president title, removing him from the San Ramon Valley High leadership class and disqualifying him from the Associated Student Body presidential election after getting the bulk of votes, according to the news release.

The district did not respond to a request for comment.

Yu sued and the district reinstated his title, prompting students to stage a walk-out in protest of SRVUSD's decision, Bay Area News group reported.

Yu's family started an online crowdfunding campaign through GoFundMe in 2017, calling the district a bully and asking for financial support to pay the legal bills. They had raised $30,000 as of Wednesday.

The district will apologize for "negative effects, disruption, an emotional distress" suffered by Yu and his family, according to the news release.

Frank LoMonte, former Student Press Law Center executive director and First Amendment scholar, said in the news release that the settlement was the largest such to come from a student free speech case.

“The landmark settlement figure sends a strong message to public school officials throughout the country that the First Amendment prohibits them from censoring off-campus student speech that does not substantially disrupt school activities,” he said in the release.

Read more from Bay Area News Group.