Biden and Universities Launch Sneak Attack on Free Speech

Title IX is a 1972 federal law which bars discrimination based on sex in education.

• It says that "no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
• The most recent changes to Title IX regulations were made in 2020 to rectify some glaring and obvious shortcomings of previous administrations that raised multiple free speech and due process concerns
• Under the Davis standard, universities can punish conduct, but they cannot punish pure speech
• This standard allows universities to regulate harassment under Title IX while complying with the First Amendment and protecting the rights of their students

Additional harassment policies target constitutionally protected speech

• There is no federal standard for the number of harassment policies universities can have
• Therefore, many of them have implemented their Title IX policies while tacking on other "harassment" policies that target whatever they want
• Students have no other option but to assume these additional harassment policies are considered equivalent to Title IX federal regulations
• The Davis Standard currently prevents schools from shutting down speech they believe to be offensive or controversial

The First Amendment supersedes the authority and whims of the Department of Education

• It is vital that universities recognize the primacy of the U.S. Constitution over the authority of the federal government and over their own policies.
• State legislators should be on the lookout for universities that are violating the First Amendment and restrict university funding where possible.

Cherise Trump is Speech First's executive director and host of Well Said

• She earned her master's degree in security studies from Georgetown University, and a bachelor's degree from George Mason University
• Cherise is a Rumsfeld Graduate Fellow at the University of Virginia.

 

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/biden-and-universities-launch-sneak-attack-on-free-speech/