Apr 04, 2014 02:41 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Oregon State University has paid $101,100 in settlement costs after an independent, conservative student newspaper accused the school for violating its First Amendment rights, Campus Reform reported.

The University paid $100,000 in legal fees and $1,000 in damages to former student William Rogers to settle a lawsuit over the university trashing of distribution boxes for The Liberty, a conservative, student-run newspaper.

The lawsuit was dismissed Wednesday with Oregon State University found at fault by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  The school did not admit wrongdoing, but they did agree to the six-figure payout to end the lawsuit.

In 2009, the distribution bins of the conservative student newspaper disappeared from campus, even while those of the larger student newspaper, The Daily Barometer, were left standing.

The bins were eventually found dumped in a trash heap at the edge of campus, still containing newspapers. When university facilities officials acknowledged removing them, Rogers and his student group sued. 

Rogers accused Oregon State President Ed Ray and other top officials of the trashing their distribution boxes. School officials said they had not ordered or even known about the destruction.

While top school administrators initially denied any involvement in the removal of The Liberty's school newspaper bins, lower ranking university officials admitted that the boxes were removed in order to beautify the campus and facilitate traffic, Campus Reform reported.

The attorneys for The Liberty successfully argued the actions amounted to "unconstitutional shutting down the voice of one student journalism group but not another," The Oregonian reported.

"We hope this case will encourage public officials everywhere to respect the freedom of students to engage in the marketplace of ideas that a public university is supposed to be," David Hacker, lawyer for The Liberty's staff, said in a written statement. "The university has done the right thing, not only through changing their unconstitutional policy, but also by compensating the students for the violation of their First Amendment freedoms."

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