This piece originally appeared in The New York Review of Books.
We write as constitutional scholars—some liberal and some conservative—who seek to defend academic freedom and the First Amendment in the wake of the federal government’s recent treatment of Columbia University.
The First Amendment protects speech many of us find wrongheaded or deeply offensive, including anti-Israel advocacy and even antisemitic advocacy. The government may not threaten funding cuts as a tool to pressure recipients into suppressing such viewpoints. This is especially so for universities, which should be committed to respecting free speech.
Atthesametime,theFirstAmendmentofcoursedoesn’tprotectantisemiticviolence,truethreatsofviolence,orcertainkindsofspeechthatmayproperlybelabeled“harassment.”TitleVIrightlyrequiresuniversitiestoprotecttheirstudentsandothercommunitymembersfromsuchbehavior.Butthelinesbetweenlegallyunprotectedharassmentontheonehandandprotectedspeechontheotherarenotoriouslydifficulttodrawandareoftenfact-specific.Inpartbecauseofthat,anysanctionsimposedonuniversitiesforTitle
