Higher Education, Harassment, and First Amendment Opportunism

Abstract

Much of the rhetoric, and some of the legal argument, surrounding university campus harassment - and especially campus anti-Semitism - consists of First Amendment opportunism. That is to say, it consists of agenda-driven efforts, varying in degree of success, to change the topic from harassment to speech in a context in which the First Amendment is arguably inapplicable. These efforts are fraught with social, political and legal significance, as they mark a struggle to shift the boundaries of constitutional discourse in a way that could increase some protections while decreasing others.

Keywords: speech, university, anti-Semitism, harassment, First Amendment, Jewish