An Unusually Tricky Campus Free-Speech Fight
Late last month, the chancellor of Florida’s university system, acting in consultation with Governor Ron DeSantis, ordered state universities to deactivate all local chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine.
How could dissolving student groups be lawful, given constitutional protections for free speech and freedom of association? Although multiple local SJP chapters acted as apologists for the murders of Israeli civilians or stood in solidarity with the Hamas militants who killed and kidnapped children, even viewpoints that deplorable are entitled to First Amendment protection.
But Florida says it is not targeting the protected speech of these groups. It is acting, instead, because the national SJP has run afoul of a state law against providing “material support” to a terrorist organization. Many people associate such laws with providing money, weapons, a safe house, or fake passports to terrorists. But material-support statutes can also render speech and advocacy that would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment unlawful. For example, Americans are free to post “Hurray for Hamas!” on social media. Yet an American could not coordinate with Hamas to draft and post “Hurray for Hamas!” as part of a marketing strategy.
[Conor Friedersdorf: Students for pogroms in Israel]
Critics of DeSantis may see another instance of the governor picking an opportunistic fight with the campus left for political gain. I certainly do. Florida has deactivated local SJP chapters without providing
