The Goldwater Institute is suing the University of Rhode Island, saying the school is violating the First Amendment by giving hiring preference to union members. The group filed a federal complaint on behalf of Rhode Island resident Nicole Solas, who applied for an administrative assistant job at the school last fall and was not interviewed.

The job posting for the Higher Education Administrative Assistant role said the position was covered by the ESP-URI/NEARI union. It also said union members would receive “preferential consideration” and that other applicants would only be reviewed “if the position is not filled by a current union member.” Solas met the listed qualifications, but she doesn't belong to a union and doesn't want to join one. She says she was denied employment strictly because of it.

Last week, American Freedom Network attorney Kevin McCaffrey filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of the Goldwater Institute. The complaint argues that the university’s policy violates Solas’s First Amendment rights by making union membership a condition of public employment. Her attorneys note that the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that public employees cannot be forced to fund union speech. They say the same principle extends to hiring advantages given to union members.

“Every Rhode Island resident should be treated equally in the hiring process for government jobs,” Solas said in a written statement. “I’m not a union member, I’ll never be a union member. This should have no bearing whatsoever on my employment prospects with a government agency because it is my absolute First Amendment right.”

The lawsuit says the University of Rhode Island has created a system that pressures applicants to join a union if they want a fair chance at a government job. It claims the school is favoring one political association over others by offering job advantages to union members. The Goldwater Institute argues that this is a form of compelled association, which they say the federal constitution does not allow.

In March, Solas’s lawyer sent a letter to the university asking for information about how the union-preference rule works and whether it was used to screen her out. The university never responded. The complaint says this silence left her with no option other than pursuing the matter in court.

The Goldwater Institute also criticized the university for its past handling of public-records requests. The group says URI previously tried to withhold documents related to its taxpayer-funded “Safe Zone” trainings by calling the materials a trade secret. Goldwater says this behavior fits a broader national pattern of public institutions avoiding transparency by using weak or unrelated excuses to block requests.

The new lawsuit asks the court to declare the hiring policy unconstitutional, block URI from enforcing it, and award nominal damages and attorney's fees. It also asks the court to bar the university from requiring prospective employees to join or subsidize a union as a condition of consideration for a job.

The case was filed on Thursday, November 20 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Solas is represented by McCaffrey and Goldwater senior attorney Scott Day Freeman. Goldwater says it plans to continue challenging policies at public institutions that violate constitutional rights or limit the public’s access to information.

A spokesman for URI could not be reached for comment this past weekend.