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FIRE statement on Office for Civil Rights’ use of ‘anti-Semitism’ definition
FIRE is deeply disappointed by the decision of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to reopen an investigation into a 2011 complaint against Rutgers University utilizing a definition of anti-Semitism that threatens speech protected by the First Amendment. The definition’s inherent vagueness allows for the investigation and punishment of core political speech. This is an unacceptable result.
FIRE has clearly and consistently opposed the use of this problematic definition in both university policy and legislation at the state and federal level. We do so again today.
Recent Articles
Get the latest free speech news and analysis from FIRE.
German chancellor echoes the frequent — and illiberal — call to end online anonymity
Online anonymity is vital to free speech in Germany. And the United States.
Ruling on Palestine Action ban casts even more doubt on UK’s troubling mass arrests of peaceful protesters
A UK court says banning the group Palestine Action was unlawful — after more than 2,700 arrests — but the ban remains pending appeal. So for now, supporting the group is essentially Schrödinger’s speech crime.
He refused to censor his syllabus — so Texas Tech cancelled his class
In another blow to academic freedom in the Lone Star state, Texas Tech canceled a psychology class after the professor refused to scrub race and gender from his syllabus.
Fandom’s lighthouse in a sea of censorship
In the storm of internet censorship and cancel crusades, the fanfic database Archive Of Our Own (AO3) has become a lighthouse of artistic expression.