Judge Rejects Former Student's Lawsuit Against Regent U. and Pat Robertson

A federal judge in Virginia has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Regent University law student who was suspended after posting on the Internet an unflattering picture of Pat Robertson, the Christian institution’s founder and chancellor, the Associated Press reported.

The student, Adam Key, accused the university and Mr. Robertson of violating his free-speech and due-process rights. But Judge Jerome B. Friedman of the U.S. District Court in Norfolk rejected Mr. Key’s argument that because the private university accepted some federal funds, it was subject to the same free-speech and due-process standards that apply to the government. In an opinion issued last Friday, Judge Friedman wrote that a university’s receipt of public funds alone does not make its decisions acts of the state. —Charles Huckabee