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Protests: Are private universities bound by First Amendment? [1]

['Tom Kertscher', 'Wisconsin Watch', 'More Tom Kertscher', 'Fact Checker', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img']

Date: 2024-05-06 21:10:14+00:00

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Authorities including the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, Northwestern University law professors and the New York Civil Liberties Union say private universities generally are not bound by the First Amendment.

Among the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment are the rights of individuals to speak freely and assemble peaceably.

“While public universities are beholden to principles of the First Amendment,” they may impose narrow limits on free speech, such as time and place, says the freedom of speech advocacy group PEN America.

“Because private universities are not government entities,” they generally are not bound by the First Amendment and “may impose stricter limitations.”

The private universities claim was made April 25, 2024, on social media by attorney Rick Esenberg, president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.

Esenberg cited to Wisconsin Watch two U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the First Amendment not applying to entities that are not “state actors.”



This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Stanford Magazine: What the Law Says About Campus Free Speech

Inside Higher Ed: Just Follow the First Amendment

ACLU of New York: Know Your Rights: Students in Higher Education & the First Amendment

PEN America: The First Amendment

Google Docs: Rick Esenberg 4/25/24 X post

Associated Press: As a new generation rises, tension between free speech and inclusivity on college campuses simmers

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression: Private Universities

SCOTUSblog: Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck

Justia: Hudgens v. NLRB, 424 U.S. 507 (1976)

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[1] Url: https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/05/palestinian-protests-private-universities-first-amendment/

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