In both public and private institutions, the freedom of speech of university faculty, staff and students should be respected. As our namesake, Justice Louis D. Brandeis, once explained, “If there is a time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.” Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 377 (1927) (Brandeis, J., concurring). Under the First Amendment, additional protections apply in public institutions. At the same time, administrators should be cautious of selective, opportunistic, or pretextual invocations of this right. Similarly, administrators must acknowledge that the First Amendment does not relieve them of their obligation to ensure that their students receive equal educational opportunity under federal civil rights law.

This section provides best practices in the protection of the freedom of speech at public post-secondary educational institutions, as well as related documentation, as well as best practices in the protection of the freedom of speech at public post-secondary educational institutions, as well as related documentation.