The Issue:  The responses of some campus groups to the October 7 attacks and to the subsequent bombing and invasion of Gaza have raised heatedly contested questions about the limits of permissible speech on campus and about university policies and practices toward speech that some campus constituencies find offensive and in some instances intimidating. Such questions are not new, but they are generating new alignments, as some who have previously favored restrictions on campus speech now take up the banner of free speech, while others who have previously championed free speech now call for restrictions. 

How should universities respond to this debate over campus speech? Broadly speaking, two positions can be distinguished. On the one side are calls for universities to expand restrictions on offensive speech by expanding the range of groups seen as vulnerable and requiring protection against harm from unfettered speech. On the other side are calls for universities to abandon efforts to police campus speech and to re-dedicate themselves to free speech and to institutional neutrality in political matters. 
 
HxA-UCLA is a “campus community” of Heterodox Academy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization of thousands of faculty, staff, and students committed to advancing the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement to improve higher education and academic research.

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