Antisemitism in the Academic Voice: Confronting Bigotry Under the First Amendment

Abstract

The romanticized vision of life in the Ivory Tower - a peaceful haven where learned professors ponder higher thoughts and where students roam orderly quadrangles in quest of truth and other pleasures - has long been relegated to yesteryear. While universities like to nurture the perception that they are protectors of reasoned discourse, and indeed often perceive themselves as sacrosanct places of culture in a chaotic world, the modern campus, of course, is not quite so wonderful.

This chapter examines the relationship between antisemitic and anti-Zionist speech and conduct, how they both play out on contemporary university campuses - and suggests ways by which such rhetoric and conduct can be Constitutionally confronted.

Keywords: universities, colleges, higher education, racism, political correctness, Israel, antisemitism, anti-Zionism, free speech, Ivory Tower, religious discrimination

JEL Classification: I21, I29, K19, K39, K49