The monster of federal overreach continues to gain strength. The Department of Justice has now ordered the University of New Mexico to adopt rules that further restrict free speech on campus. Thanks to the feds’ ever-expanding idea of what Title IX requires, the university has been told by the Great Nanny in Washington that “sexual harassment” includes any and all unwanted speech having some sexual content and that it must not only investigate all such incidents, but also encourage students to report anything that could be offensive.

Hans Bader of Competitive Enterprise Institute (who used to work for the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights and has especially good insight into these matters) writes about this development in a Liberty Unyielding post: “Thus, if a student is offended by a professor’s comment in a lecture about how AIDS is transmitted through anal sex, or by another student’s sexual joke, it would be deemed ’sexual harassment.’ So would politely asking a student out on a date if that offends her. This definition of ’sexual harassment’ as including any ‘unwelcome’ sexual speech is vastly broader than the definitions struck down as unconstitutionally overbroad by federal appeals court rulings….”

Ah, but just because federal courts have already held that such intrusions as this go too far has no deterrent effect on zealous federal bureaucrats. It won’t hurt them a bit if UNM fights this and wins. As long as we have departments like Justice and Education staffed with Social Justice Warrior types who love throwing their weight around, this will continue.