Two Michigan State University students have filed a lawsuit against a former professor after she charged them $99 to join her radical left-wing group, according to court documents.
The students allege former politics professor Amy Wisner solicited funds from around 600 students and donated the money to Planned Parenthood – while also using it to buy a motorhome for a trip to the United States. United.
THE suit was filed by the conservative nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of students, Nolan Radomski and Nathan Barbieri. The couple are quoted in the lawsuit as believing abortion is “the killing of innocent children.”
A section of the lawsuit says the students enjoy learning about contrasting opinions in their schoolwork, but believing being asked to fund organizations that are contrary to their beliefs crosses the line.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Wisner called his organization, The Rebel Community, “a safe place to coordinate our efforts to burn it all to the ground.” Its official program called the group a “global social learning community”, reports Michigan live.
Former Michigan State University Amy Wisner is accused of coercing her students into joining her radical left-wing organization for $99 each
MSU students Nathan Barbieri, left, and Nolan Radomski, right, say the rebel community’s beliefs are antithetical to their own
The rebel community logo. Wisner described the group as a “safe place to coordinate our efforts to burn everything to the ground”
The lawsuit accuses Wisner of telling her students that she would not personally benefit from their donations, about $60,000 in total.
It later emerged that she had used some of the money to buy an RV to fund a “road trip across the United States to co-create rebel communities”.
A GoFundMe The page created to raise funds for Wisner’s base trip has only raised $2,250 at the time of writing. The page’s goal is $100,000.
“My goal is to sit around kitchen tables and campfires to facilitate conversations about important social issues and spark action at the local level,” Wisner wrote of the trip.
Wisner’s name does not appear on the school directory. A school spokesperson told Michigan Live that Wisner is no longer employed at the school.
On April 7, Wisner wrote on her Facebook page that she was fired because MSU “didn’t want [her] and my guest lecturers to teach diversity, equity and inclusion to students in the basic business communication course.
“The battle over this issue started in October 2022 and ended about a month ago when they fired me for insubordination,” she added.
The former teacher went on to use her platform to further promote the rebel community saying the group was fighting “the state of our education system, the daily threat of gun violence, overt racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, ableism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of bullying.
The students leading the lawsuit believe the group “when directed against the idea of absolute truth or universal moral standards, is wrong.” The pair “also reject all branches of ‘critical theory’.
“They do not wish to financially support the speech of others that contradicts their views, and they do not wish to become members of groups organized for the purpose of promoting messages that contradict their views,” another section of the suit reads.
Wisner said she was fired because the school “didn’t want [her] and my guest lecturers to teach Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to students in the Corporate Communications Senior Class’
Documents say Wisner’s actions were unconstitutional because they forced plaintiffs to endorse ideas they find objectionable
The documents state that Wisner’s actions were unconstitutional because they forced the plaintiffs to endorse ideas they deem objectionable. In this case, the approval came in the form of “forced financial contributions,” the lawsuit says.
Wisner opened up about his teaching in a 2022 interview, telling Grand Lansing Moms that its “600 students have embarked on this journey of personal growth and the results have been remarkable,” in the previous semester.
“In 14 years of teaching at the college level, I have never received so many comments from students about the transformation they experienced in a single semester,” she also said.
In an online biography, Wisner describes herself as “bold and unapologetic”. The former teacher says she was once a ‘good girl who followed the rules’, so ‘she can deeply sympathize with anyone who struggles to break the rules’.
The activist also says she stopped coloring her hair when she was 40 and soon after became a single mother of two through IVF.
“Becoming a single mother by choice is – without a doubt – the most incredible decision I have ever made in my life. It is VERY hard to be the sole provider… But it is also incredibly rewarding!” , Wisner said in her interview with Greater Lansing Moms.
When asked in the same interview how she managed to work at MSU, run The Rebel Community, and be a mom, Wisner replied, “I have no idea!” Pure desire, passion and a little madness? LOL.’
According to her LinkedIn page, Wisner graduated from MSU and studied marketing at school between 1992 and 1996. In 2018, Wisner earned a doctorate in communications from MSU.
Prior to entering teaching, Wisner worked for pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline in sales.
Wisner entered education in 2010, first teaching at Lansing Community College before moving to the University of Michigan before landing at MSU.
“University professors cannot force students to fund and support political advocacy groups that voice messages they disagree with. Nathan and Nolan just want to get a business degree without having to pay membership fees that will go to Planned Parenthood or support speech that directly contradicts their religious beliefs,’ ADF’s Logan Spena said in a statement. Press release following the filing of the complaint.
“Michigan state officials violated the First Amendment and federal civil rights laws by allowing professors to force students to deliver speech contrary to their deepest values and faith,” Spena continued. .
MSU Acting Provost Thomas Jeitschko is also named in the lawsuit. Earlier this year, the school made the decision to reimburse students who had contributed to Wisner’s cause.
