UPDATE: Judge tosses suit against Pat Robertson, Regent U.

By: By LARRY O'DELL ASSOCIATED PRESS | Times-Dispatch
Published: June 12, 2009

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by a former Regent University law student who was suspended after posting a picture on the Internet of school founder Pat Robertson making what appeared to be an obscene gesture.

U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman of Norfolk rejected Adam Key’s claims that Regent and Robertson, the school’s chancellor and president, violated his free speech and due process rights.

Key, a Houston native, was suspended from Regent for one year in 2007 for violating the school’s code of conduct after posting the picture. The picture was a frame of a YouTube video in which Robertson was scratching his face.

Although Regent is a private university, Key said the school received some state and federal funds and therefore was subject to the free-speech and due process standards that apply to the government. Friedman disagreed, writing in his June 5 ruling that a school’s receipt of public funds alone does not make its decisions acts of the state.

“We are pleased the court agreed that Regent University acted properly in this case and has dismissed it,” Regent spokeswoman Sherri Stocks said in a written statement today.

Key said in a telephone interview that he will either file a motion to reconsider or appeal the ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“For the first time, I find myself almost ashamed to call myself an American because we claim to promote things like free speech and expression but don’t uphold them,” Key said.

Along with the constitutional claims, Key alleged that Robertson defamed him by saying Key had manipulated the photo, and that the school broke its contract with him by not living up to promises made in recruiting materials.

The judge rejected those arguments as well. He said that by presenting a single frame of a video out of context, Key did manipulate the image — and since Robertson’s statement was true, it could not be defamatory.

Friedman also said the “generic recruiting correspondence” received by Key did not amount to a binding contract.

Key, 25, now attends graduate school at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He said he also coaches the debate team, which just placed fourth nationally.