Antisemitism and Free Speech on Campus

Times Union
Barbara DeMille

Excerpt: When dealing in the arts of propaganda and thought control, you must always, first, dishonor the intellectuals. And in the insidious process of disgracing independent thought, those who think — and have the temerity to speak and publish what they think — will always be prime targets.

Faced with aggressive questioning from U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik in a congressional hearing last month, college presidents stumbled through answers about antisemitism on campus. Stefanik claims it as a vital victory to be rid of these instances of “deep institutional rot.” And what do the Republican congresswoman and her colleagues plan to do once they have cleansed our institutional rot?  Her North Star, Donald Trump, offers clues.

Jonathan Turley
Jonathan Turley's Blog

Excerpt: Dan Kalb, an Oakland City Council member, is an ardent environmentalist and liberal politician. He was considered ideal to speak at the University of California, Berkeley, on the environment . . . until students found out that Kalb is also a supporter of Israel.  Kalb was reportedly disinvited this month by Natural Resources Professor Kurt Spreyer after students objected and threatened a protest.

Katherine Knott
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Colleges and universities would have to report annually the number of civil rights complaints they receive and how they addressed them under a new Senate bill introduced Thursday.

Sponsored by Dr. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican senator, and Senator John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, the legislation would require colleges to give students information about how to file a complaint with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. The bill is largely a response to the recent rise in reported antisemitic incidents on college campuses. But the lawmakers say they are seeking to support any students who experience violence or harassment on college campuses due to their heritage.

Ryan Quinn
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: The Modern Language Association’s Delegate Assembly passed an “emergency motion” Saturday defending college and university employees and students who are facing threats, harassment and violence for criticizing Israel’s violence against Palestinians.

The weekend-long MLA Annual Convention included multiple panels that discussed the war in Gaza. A Friday open hearing ahead of the Delegate Assembly featured heated debate on the motion that ultimately passed, along with a different one that would’ve broadly supported “academic freedom and free expression” without mentioning either Palestine or Israel.

Robert Corn-Revere
Reason Magazine

Excerpt:  Freedom of speech on American college campuses is now facing great challenges in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel's bombardment of Gaza. According to some, the outpouring of ugly, inexplicable, and vituperative speech unleashed by these events means that now is the time to abandon the concept of free speech at our universities. Apparently, to these "sunshine constitutional scholars," speech can only be free if it is polite and unchallenging.

There is no need to infantilize students by telling them they are simply too brittle to fully participate in the heated debates going on in the world around them. Instead, we need clear leadership from university presidents and others that stresses our commitment to free expression. This commitment must remain strong especially in turbulent times.

Jordan Howell
Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression

Excerpt: Since the October 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel and the subsequent invasion of Gaza, college campuses across the United States have experienced almost daily protests and demonstrations by students and faculty of all political stripes. Some are raising their voices in support of Israelis; others, in support of Palestinians.

That being said, FIRE has been troubled to see some college leaders react to protected speech and peaceful protests with calls to prohibit speech they view as inflammatory or even to ban student groups because of their viewpoints. The use of one phrase in particular — “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — is so hotly contested that some have called for banning its utterance entirely.