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Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee criticized the decision making of campus administrators in a hearing Tuesday but didn't suggest any new federal responses to issues of free speech on college campuses.
Although Congress has examined free speech in the context of higher ed before, the hearing was the first on Capitol Hill since several high-profile incidents this year involving conservative and far-right speakers. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said many students erroneously think that speech they consider hateful is violent.
Witnesses agreed that speech rights must be protected by college administrators. Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said canceling events featuring inflammatory speakers risked turning them into First Amendment martyrs.
Lawmakers also heard from Williams College senior Zach Wood, whose student group hosts controversial speakers on campus. The group withdrew an invitation to antifeminist author Suzanne Venker in 2015 after heated protests and later had a speech by conservative writer John Derbyshire canceled by the university itself. Williams President Adam Falk said at the time that many of Derbyshire's opinions amounted to hate speech.
President Trump mused on Twitter earlier this year whether the University of California, Berkeley, should see its federal funding cut off after it canceled a speech by "alt-right" personality Milo Yiannopoulos over safety concerns. Republicans didn't suggest any similar repercussions Tuesday, but Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said college presidents not willing to uphold First Amendment rights on campus should resign.
"This is an issue that should be addressed by the university president," Kennedy said. "Shame on any one of them who for political reasons decides not to do their job."
