University of Alabama suspended two student magazines serving Black and female students, citing DOJ anti-DEI memo

On December 1, 2025, University of Alabama officials told the student editors of two campus magazines that their publications would immediately stop. Alice Magazine, which covered women undergraduates, and Nineteen Fifty-Six Magazine, which covered Black undergraduates, were both suspended; the university cited its interpretation of a July 2025 memo from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that offered non-binding recommendations on complying with the Trump administration's anti-DEI policies for federally funded institutions. "I was under the impression that we were protected from being affected by any anti-DEI legislation and rulings because of our First Amendment right to freedom of press, but it appears I was wrong," Alice Editor-in-Chief Gabrielle Gunter said afterward.

A university spokesperson said the suspensions were meant to "ensure all members of our community feel welcome to participate in programs that receive university funding from the Office of Student Media." Both magazines were funded through that office. Nineteen Fifty-Six founder Tionna Taite said the publications existed to highlight minority voices at the university and called the shutdown a "regression" from the magazine's founding in 2020.

The suspensions came amid a broader wave of universities curtailing DEI-linked programming following federal guidance under the Trump administration, though Bondi's memo itself imposed no binding legal requirement to close the publications. Alice and Nineteen Fifty-Six were shut down while other student publications at the university continued operating without interruption.

Updates

2026-03-23 — Former staff sued university alleging viewpoint discrimination [2, 3]

Former staff of Alice Magazine and Nineteen Fifty-Six, represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the ACLU of Alabama, filed a federal lawsuit against the University of Alabama on March 23, 2026. The suit alleges the university violated students' First Amendment rights, arguing the magazines were "suspended and defunded by UA because UA administrators disfavor their editorial perspectives related to race and gender," and seeks their reinstatement. A university spokesperson declined to comment on the litigation.

2026-05-22 — Federal judge denied preliminary injunction, magazines remained suspended [4, 5]

U.S. District Judge Edmund G. LaCour Jr. denied the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction that would have reinstated Alice and Nineteen Fifty-Six, ruling the university's suspension reflected a "content based decision, not discrimination against female or black viewpoints" rather than viewpoint discrimination. The magazines remained suspended as the underlying First Amendment lawsuit continued.

2026-06 — Plaintiffs appealed injunction denial to 11th Circuit, district case paused [6, 7]

Attorneys for the University of Alabama students notified the court they would appeal Judge LaCour's denial of the preliminary injunction to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The University filed a motion to dismiss in the district court, and both parties agreed to pause district court proceedings pending the appeal's outcome. NAACP Legal Defense Fund counsel Avatara Smith-Carrington said the district court's decision "flouts several decades of Supreme Court precedent when it comes to student speech."