Mizzou Administrator: First Amendment Isn’t ‘Free Pass’ To Say Hateful Things

In an interview with The Economist, the University of Missouri’s interim vice-chancellor for diversity Chuck Henson appeared to opine that the First Amendment does not protect hate speech on campus.

After the resignation of Mizzou president Tim Wolfe, Henson became one of the seven temporary administrators charged with running the school. The new administration quickly promised to meet all of the demands of the group of students leading a protest against what they claim is a hostile and racist environment at the school.

“The backlash against the changes at Mizzou is likely to continue, led by self-styled defenders of the First Amendment (which protects free speech),” The Economist reports. “Yet the First Amendment does not give people a free pass to go round saying hateful things, points out Mr Henson.” Accordingly, Henson cited a guide on “inclusive terminology” issued by Mizzou, rich in phrases like “intersectionality” and “minoritized.”

Henson’s comments are odd because the First Amendment absolutely grants a right to “hate speech” (sorry Chris Cuomo). Courts have repeatedly ruled in the past that state colleges like the University of Missouri cannot punish speech from professors or students because others did not care for the content of that speech.

Hopefully a professor of law like Henson understands that as a state employee, any efforts he made to punish “hate speech” on campus would be unconstitutional. But given that the University of Missouri police department recently asked students to call the cops on any of their peers who used “hurtful speech,” that understanding appears to be completely absent on Mizzou’s campus.

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.