Campus Protests and Free Expression

Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron Snyder
Banished, Substack

Excerpt: On January 25, 2024, American University banned all indoor protests in the name of “inclusivity.” AU’s Office of the President explained this and other policy changes in a remarkable open letter that reads like a parody of what we call DEI, Inc. The first paragraph alone invokes “belonging” three times and “community” four times.

AU’s maneuver here--deploying the language of inclusion to clamp down on free speech--is one that we’ve seen many colleges and universities make in response to campus controversies surrounding the Israel-Hamas war. It’s a worrying trend: If students can’t protest, colleges and universities will fail to achieve one of their core missions, which is to prepare students for citizenship.

Jessica Blake
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: As college and university presidents face growing backlash from state and federal lawmakers for their responses to student protests against the war between Israel and Hamas, higher education leaders are cracking down on student demonstrations—particularly those that support Palestinian people.

In the last week, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology became one of several institutions that have suspended student groups for violations of campus protest rules, and Stanford University threatened to take disciplinary action against students who occupied a campus plaza for nearly four months.

Randall L. Kennedy, Princeton ‘77
Harvard Crimson

Excerpt: Many legal protections are grouped under two related but distinct categories: civil liberties and civil rights. The former, which includes the right to freedom of speech, protects individuals from oppression. The latter prevents wrongful discrimination against groups based on race, religion, national origin, or other attributes.

I have watched with dismay as leading civil liberties organizations — such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and the National Coalition Against Censorship — have struggled to attract the support of young African Americans, at least in part because those organizations are seen as defending the rights of racists. This alienation between supporters of civil rights and civil liberties is harmful and avoidable. Reconciliation is essential and urgently needed.

Stella Lee and Annalisa Fang
Daily Pennsylvanian

Excerpt: Penn Political Union hosted a discussion with political science professor Ian Lustick discussing free speech and the criteria for guest speakers in a university setting.

Penn Political Union president and College sophomore Mia Antonacci moderated the event, focusing on the question of whether it is “appropriate to prohibit individuals from speaking at a university based on the falsehood of their statements.” Around 30 people attended the discussion on Feb. 7, which took place at the Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics.

Anti-Israel protesters at Yale University (@NYSSofficial, X/Twitter)
Aaron Sibarium

Excerpt: Yale Law School's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, the
group that celebrated the murder of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7 and
praised the architects of the attack as "martyrs," is calling on the
school to cancel an event with a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces,
arguing that his presence on campus will make students unsafe.

"We implore the administration to take seriously the implications of
this militarization of campus," Yale Law Students for Justice in
Palestine wrote in a Feb. 1 Instagram post. "The platforming of an IDF
combatant recently returned from Israel's atrocities in Gaza makes
many of us—especially Palestinian Arab, Muslim, Black, and brown
students—feel physically and psychologically unsafe and unwelcome in
our own school."

The demand to cancel the event, which is scheduled for Monday evening,
comes weeks after the same group called on Yale to "protect free
speech." It's part of a larger campaign to vilify the Jewish state and
keep IDF soldiers off the law school's campus, where some students
responded to the Oct. 7 attacks by defending Hamas and mocking Jewish
students who condemned the violence.

Jessica Blake
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: American University administrators have banned all indoor protests in a move they say is intended to promote inclusivity and signal a clear intolerance of antisemitism on campus.  

Sylvia Burwell, the university’s president, said in a Jan. 25 letter to the campus that the decision was made in response to “recent events and incidents on campus [that] have made Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome.” The protest ban comes on the heels of a complaint filed by multiple Jewish advocacy groups to the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, asserting that the Washington, D.C., institution is a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students.