Examples abound of abhorrent speech by students and faculty members, mostly aimed at Israel, Jews and even Jewish students — and yet abhorrent does not equal criminal. By imposing speech codes that ban what they deem offensive speech without clearly defining it, they have encouraged illiberalism in an environment designed to cultivate the liberal arts. Administrators continue to face intense pressure to make statements and take sides, whether from students, faculty members, donors or lawmakers. “There’s no answer that will please everybody,” Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the Berkeley School of Law and an expert on free speech, told me. Obviously there are legal red lines to a culture of free speech: threats, intimidation and harassment, to name the obvious ones.

---

Persons: Harry Kalven Jr, “, ” Erwin Chemerinsky, Mr, Chemerinsky, he’s, Suzanne Nossel, ”, Nossel, —, Ron DeSantis Organizations: Cornell University, don’t, University of Chicago, Universities, Berkeley School of Law, Civil, PEN America, University of North, Texas Locations: Israel, Vietnam, Berkeley, University of North Carolina, Florida