During the Obama administration, the Department of Justice did nothing to protect free speech on campus. Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch were far too busy with political schemes to bother with free-speech issues. But the Trump administration is making a complete change in that respect. Last week Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech at Georgetown where he announced that the DOJ had submitted a Statement of Interest in one free-speech case and would submit others. That tells the court that the Department thinks the issues have merit and also lets the school know that Washington is watching.
I write about this good development in today’s Martin Center article.
Protecting the First Amendment on college campuses is one of the very few things the federal government has any business doing in higher education.
And with the Department of Justice throwing its considerable weight behind free speech, shouldn’t the Department of Education follow suit? I suggest that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, fresh from sweeping away Obama-era “guidance” that dragooned colleges into the Title IX madness of zealots in the Office for Civil Rights, should put out guidance on how schools should and shouldn’t behave on free-speech issues if they want to avoid federal scrutiny.