Tense protests and counter-protests concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are roiling campus life at American colleges and universities, including cancelled classes and commencements, and numerous student and faculty arrests. Police and university authorities have been accused of “trampling First Amendment rights” and conducting unnecessarily violent arrests.
The fraught situation has spotlighted the difficulty of balancing the importance of free speech on campuses with the imperative to protect students from harm. Some students express fears of “another Kent State” while others call out antisemitic protest placards and chants. Public colleges and universities are bound by the First Amendment’s prohibition on “abridging the freedom of speech” or “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” Private universities have more power to restrict campus expression but face other pressures to uphold free speech.
Free speech absolutists argue that universities must permit all student speech even if it is incorrect or grossly offensive. Others argue that administrators must stop discriminatory hate speech.
Many profess to want a middle ground solution. Yet, despite frequent litigation throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, U.S. courts have not provided a clearly defined line to mark when speech and protests cease to be peaceful and lose First Amendment protection. This blurriness has left university administrators in an impossible situation — one that won’t change until the courts and politicians settle on which priority is more important: free speech or order on campus.
Student activism is an American tradition — one that even predates the American Revolution. In 1766, Harvard University disciplined student Asa Dunbar for insubordination after he complained about the lack of fresh food. In response, students staged what author Samuel Batchelder called a month of “violent, illegal, and insulting proceedings.” Only an address…
