Ruth Malhotra

Many young Americans don’t want to rock the boat on campus and just go with the flow in the face of speech codes and collegiate environs, but not 28 year-old Ruth Malhotra.

Malhotra, together with fellow Red Alert Politics “30 Under 30” awardee Orit Sklar, took on Georgia Tech and filed a successful federal lawsuit against the school for First Amendment violations. Conservative and Christian speech on campus was often labeled as “hateful” and “intolerant” while Leftist radicalism was labeled as being part of “intellectual diversity.”

Georgia Tech’s speech code tended to be selectively enforced against religiously conservative students. Malhotra, who graduated in 2006, found herself on the receiving end of her professor’s intolerance of her political views when he threatened to fail her because of them.

Malhotra received death threats and rape threats and had to spend her last two semesters under police escort.

“I think the biggest issue facing our generation today – and something that leads to all the other challenges – is the lack of moral responsibility and eroding commitment to absolute truth,” Malhotra said. “Leaders in every arena – from the government and the media to education and entertainment, and, sadly, even in some churches – are increasingly advancing a message that downplays personal responsibility and emphasizes moral relativism.”

Young Americans need to stand by their convictions and remember that it is a “long battle” for freedom that we are winning, Malhotra said.

She currently works in the field of research and communications with a number of different organizations and initiatives.