Below is a video of the panel on "Federal Efforts to Combat Antisemitism: Restoring Campus Civil Rights or Infringing Academic Freedom?" from the recent Education Law and Policy Conference, co-sponsored by the Federalist Society and the Defense of Freedom Institute. I was one of the participants. The others were Tyler Coward (Lead Counsel, Government Affairs, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)), Ken Marcus (Chairman & Founder, Brandeis Center), and Sarah Perry (Vice President & Legal Fellow, Defending Education). Carlos Muniz, Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, moderated.
Not surprisingly, Tyler Coward and I were much more critical of the the Trump Administration's policies than Perry and Marcus. In my view, much of what is being done under the pretext of combatting campus anti-Semitism is actually undermining freedom of speech and academic freedom, and also illegally seeking federal control over state and private universities. But there were more areas of agreement. For example, we all agreed that the federal government cannot properly seek control over university curricula (Perry even said the Trump Administration's efforts to do so at Harvard gave her "apoplexy") and that campus protests that devolve into violence and disruption must be banned, and are subject to punishment. Though in my view, not all of the latter qualify as anti-Semitic, and some are properly addressed by state and local law, rather than federal enforcement.
