Panetta Discusses Protecting 'Free Speech' While Also Cracking Down On 'Hate Speech' On Campuses

3 months ago

At a House Ways & Means Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) spoke about free speech vs. hate speech at schools and universities.

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00:00Thank you. Mr. Panetta. Thank You Mr. Chairman and thanks to all the witnesses

00:06and of course Mr. Deutsch it's always good to see you as I told you prior to

00:10your leaving you are one of those members that we miss so thank you for

00:14being here today in this capacity especially. I think we can all agree that

00:19all students deserve a safe place to learn free from hate speech and

00:22discrimination and I think we understand that free speech and protests though are

00:27part of University life. University life. However when protests turn violent

00:31demonstrators break the law, our debates devolve into hate speech, actions need to

00:36be taken. What I think is an issue though is that when it comes to policies to

00:40govern protests and speech on campuses there are just different standards and

00:44difficult standards to meet. When it comes to the First Amendment there are

00:48different policies for public universities which are bound by the

00:50First Amendment and private universities which are not. Two, also we know that to

00:56receive federal funds colleges must adhere adhere to the Civil Rights Act

00:59but that bar to prove discrimination in court is very high and another issue is

01:04that universities have enforced their rules unevenly as many of you have

01:08discussed today. We've seen college administrators curtail speech in certain

01:12areas to accommodate students even for some microaggressions yet the same

01:16administrators appear unmoved by the distress of Jewish students. And sure all

01:22colleges have limits on time place and manner of protests so students can

01:26attend class but they are implemented differently. We know that there are

01:31examples of universities getting this right by addressing anti-semitic actions

01:35while shutting down protests that endanger the campus community. I saw that

01:39in my district at a local university and it was even written about by a student

01:43who wanted to get to class and appreciated the university's actions to

01:49clear the protest. Now unfortunately though some of these positive examples

01:53are overshadowed by the missteps of others. When university administrators

01:58have taken action against demonstrations they've been accused for going too

02:02far as well. Moreover heavy-handed policing can galvanize protesters and

02:06prove counterproductive. Despite that though we should ensure that the

02:11positive examples are followed and that we have mechanisms in place to support

02:15Jewish students and address and prevent anti-semitic incidents on campus. Look we

02:22can agree that colleges should protect the rights of students to raise their

02:26hands in class in which they can make claims about the Jewish state or even

02:30express misguided support for a terrorist organization because the

02:34airing of bad ideas is an important part not just of college life but of American

02:39life. But letting protesters yell intifada and intimidating Jewish students

02:44trying to get to class is not consistent with free speech nor is there a free

02:49speech right to occupy parts of a university and yes we support freedom of

02:53assembly as part of the First Amendment but that does not mean that protesters

02:57have a right to assemble anywhere if it means that it prevents other people from

03:03using public spaces and of course damaging property and defacing statutes

03:07statutes is a crime whether you are on campus or in a public park. So if there

03:12are lawbreakers that are practicing civil disobedience they need to do it in

03:17a way as Martin Luther Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. said do it openly do it

03:22lovingly but doing with the willingness to accept the penalty. Now look all of

03:26you have expressed disappointment in your testimony about the responses from

03:30colleges on this issue. We can condemn anti-semitic speech from students

03:35however it is ultimately the university leaders to protect students on campus.

03:39Now Mr. Deutsch you talked when with my colleagues questions about what Congress

03:44can do what should universities be doing to address some of these issues that I

03:49talked about so that we can prepare for the coming school year to ensure that

03:53basically yes we protect free speech but we also crack down on hate speech. Well

03:59in order first of all it's good to see you Congressman and thank you for your

04:04very thoughtful comments. I it starts with acknowledging that universities

04:10have the primary responsibility here that as they're looking ahead to the

04:15fall they're taking action like we've seen at other universities where number

04:20one they're speaking out with moral clarity about about what is and isn't

04:25acceptable about as Professor Davide points out there can be no tolerance for

04:31the support of terrorism on campus. This has been a really interesting

04:34conversation in in real life on college campuses there are students who are

04:40actively speaking out in support of the terrorists who committed the 10-7

04:45atrocity. They should be speaking with more clarity. They should be making sure

04:50that that the code of student conduct on every camp on their campus has been

04:55updated to reflect the moment. It should be clear what the repercussions are if

05:00it's violated. They should make every student acknowledge what those

05:04repercussions are and we've heard this earlier so that that it's clear what

05:08will happen and then they need to actually follow through if the code of

05:13student conduct is violated. Those are all important steps that they should be

05:17putting in place right now before a single student comes back to campus to

05:23set a tone for what is and isn't acceptable to create the kind of

05:27university community that every university president claims that they

05:30want. Thank you Mr. Chairman I yield back.

Panetta Discusses Protecting 'Free Speech' While Also Cracking Down On 'Hate Speech' On Campuses

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