Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Tuesday that freedom of speech and thought on college campuses are “under attack,” and that the Department of Justice has filed a “statement of interest” in a campus free speech case.
Speaking at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, amid protests outside by more than 100 students, Sessions said that college campuses are now “transforming into an echo chamber of political correctness and homogenous thought, a shelter for fragile egos.”
Sessions said the Justice Department will move to “enforce federal law, defend free speech, and protect students’ free expression from whatever end of the political spectrum it may come.”
His department’s statement of interest was filed Tuesday in the case of Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski. In that case, a student at Georgia Gwinnett College says the school censored him from speaking about his Christian faith by allowing him only “two tiny speech zones” during certain hours of the day. The lawsuit was filed in December in federal court in Atlanta.
Sessions added the department “will be filing more” statements of interest in free speech cases in the coming weeks and months.
Sessions spoke amid complaints by Georgetown students who said they were not allowed to sit in the auditorium due to a strict invitation list, which was drawn up by the Georgetown Center for the Constitution at Georgetown Law. At the start of the speech, the auditorium was barely half full.
The director of the Center for the Constitution, Randy Barnett, introduced Sessions Tuesday ahead of his prepared remarks. The Center for the Constitution offers programs “placing special emphasis on how best to remain faithful to the Constitution.”
Barnett told reporters after the event that no one was “disinvited,” but rather should not have gotten access to be able to RSVP in the first place. People that were originally able to RSVP were able to do so and submit a question to be asked, before being notified by the school that they were no longer able to attend.
“We did not screen people for political views,” Barnett said, adding that the Justice Department reached out to him because Sessions wanted to give remarks about free speech on campus.
Before his speech, faculty members circulated a letter condemning “the hypocrisy of Attorney General Sessions speaking about free speech.” That letter cited President Trump’s comments on NFL anthem protesters, the ongoing case against a protester who laughed at Sessions’ confirmation hearing in January, and the Justice Department’s attempt to collect information on individuals part of protests during Trump’s inauguration.
Trump has suggested that NFL owners should fire or suspend NFL players who protest during the national anthem.
When asked by Barnett about Trump’s comments on NFL protesters after his prepared remarks, Sessions said the president “has free speech rights too,” and said despite his personal disagreement with the form of protest, those protesters are protected by the First Amendment.
“I would note of course that the players aren’t subject to any prosecution but if they take a provocative act they can expect to be condemned, and the president has the right to condemn then.” Sessions explained. “People have a right to register their opinions, to protest to criticize in any number of ways. […] The freedom of any individual player is paramount under the Constitution […] and we have to protect it.”
Sessions added that “there are many ways these players with all the assets they have can express their political views other than, in effect, denigrating the semblance of our nation.”
Outside of the building, more than 100 protesters with signs reading “Hate is not free speech” and “Sessions is afraid of questions.” The protesters first took a knee around 11:30 a.m., before taking turns on a megaphone to oppose the attorney general and his move to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Before answering questions from Barnett, which were submitted ahead of time by invited students, a row or protesters in black shirts stood up and put tape over their mouths in silent protest.
One of those students was, Ian Engdahl, a third-year student at Georgetown Law. He and two other of the silent protesters were part of the intended RSVP list and were able to go to represent the students who were unable.
Engdahl told The Washington Examiner that the top question from the people who were able to RSVP before being “disinvited” was: “Why does the administration feel that on campus student demonstrations are worthier of criticism than violent white supremacist rallies?”
