Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing two students and the Turning Point USA chapter they started at the State University of New York Cortland filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against school officials and the student government association for excluding them from being a recognized student organization because of the group’s views.

During the fall semester, SUNY Cortland students Gabriella Delorenzo and Megan Rothmund assembled with other students to form a TPUSA chapter at the university to bring together students who value freedom, free markets, and limited government. However, the Student Government’s Student Senate withheld recognized group status to the chapter because it disagreed with the national TPUSA organization’s views. Student senators acted with SUNY Cortland Professor Nikolay Karkov to question and demean Turning Point’s views for approximately 100 minutes. When the students raised the issue with SUNY Cortland President Erik Bitterbaum, he warned that they would likely be denied again, telling them, “We silence voices all the time in this country. That’s the tragedy and also the greatness of democracy.”