Civil Rights Act / Free Speech
Caught In The Campus Crossfire

VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Free Speech

Under 42 U.S. Code § 2000d, which was was enacted as part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/2000d
According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, this prohibition includes discrimination based on “perceived shared ancestral or ethnic characteristics” such as being “Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh.”

https://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/sharedancestry.html
“Burning a cross in the United States is inextricably intertwined with the history of the Ku Klux Klan, which, following its formation in 1866, imposed a reign of terror throughout the South, whipping, threatening, and murdering blacks, southern whites who disagreed with the Klan, and ‘carpetbagger’ northern whites. The Klan has often used cross burnings as a tool of intimidation and a threat of impending violence, although such burnings have also remained potent symbols of shared group identity and ideology, serving as a central feature of Klan gatherings. To this day, however, regardless of whether the message is a political one or is also meant to intimidate, the burning of a cross is a ‘symbol of hate.’”

The United State Supreme Court in Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343, 343-344 (2003)
“‘True threats’ encompass those statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals. The speaker need not actually intend to carry out the threat. Rather, a prohibition on true threats ‘protect[s] individuals from the fear of violence’ and ‘from the disruption that fear engenders,’ in addition to protecting people ‘from the possibility that the threatened violence will occur.’”

Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. at 359-360.

Character Rebecca Silver’s letter to fictional university president in CAUGHT IN THE CAMPUS CROSSFIRE:

Dear President Atkinson:


As a Jewish student at Cal Pacific State University, I ask you to intervene concerning the Middle East curricula taught in the Political Science Department because it discriminates against Jews and creates an abusive environment in violation of Cal Pacific State University’s Policy on Freedom of Education and Freedom from Harassment and Discrimination.

As unambiguously set forth in Cal Pacific State’s Policy, CPSU, as a tax-funded state university, is committed, not only to upholding free speech, but to “an environment free of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, … and religion, in which … students … may express themselves without fear of intimidation or retribution.” CPSU’s policy is also clear, citing a U.S. Supreme Court case and another federal court case, that students have a right to “‘learn’ freely and be free from ‘indoctrination’ … and free from ‘viewpoint discrimination.’”

But Professor Al Jabbari, the Chair of the Political Science Department, teaches Middle East Studies, the only such course in the Department, from a completely one-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. He erases the long history of the Jews in the Holy Land, teaching that they were interlopers who stole Palestinian land in the 1900s and waged a one-sided war against the Palestinians. Students with opposing views are silenced and shunned. This has contributed to growing pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, protests that have turned to outright vile antisemitism with protesters carrying signs saying, “Kill the Jews,” “The Final Solution,” “Hitler Should Have Finished the Job,” “Jews are Genocidal,” and other horrible things. This creates not just an abusive environment in violation of CPSU’s Policy and in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is creating an increasingly dangerous risk of violence for Jews.

Making matters worse, Professor Al Jabbari, as head of the Poli Sci Department, has refused every effort to offer a balanced class taught by qualified professors. I ask that you either eliminate Professor Al Jabbari’s course or require that he permit a balanced class taught by a qualified professor so that students have a choice and are not captives of Professor Al Jabbari’s antisemitic indoctrination.

Very truly yours,

Rebecca Silver

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