The government is coming down hard on Columbia University for failing to protect Jewish students. It has blocked grants from the school and has come after particular international students. Some civil rights organizations and Democratic politicians have argued that such maneuvers are trouncing protected free speech and are illegal actions against people who have different opinions than President Trump.

People are entitled to have opinions – even hateful ones, and share them aloud or in print. However, such rights are not absolute and have limitations at universities.

1. In general, people may not stop other people from enjoying their particular rights, say to enjoy the campus and study freely.

The students who went into a classroom about Modern Israel and handed out leaflets and did not let the professor teach class were NOT exercising free speech but were being disruptive. The hecklers at Hillary Clinton’s lecture were not engaged in free speech but impinging on the rights of other students to learn.

2. Students cannot engage in vandalism. Painting red triangles which are the signature of the Hamas terrorist group to target people and breaking glass is destructive. Anti-Israel Columbia students have done this repeatedly.

The vandalism and takeover of schools is against both of these first two principles and certainly not part of free speech. The abduction of a school custodian during the building takeover also warranted severe disciplinary action.

3. People cannot disseminate propaganda and wave flags of US-designated terrorist groups. The United States has labeled several Palestinian Arab groups as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). Sharing propaganda from such groups can be viewed as providing material support, a serious crime.

Columbia students who are part of Students for Justice in Palestine shared statements from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that “contextualizes” the slaughter of 1,200 people, kidnapping of babies and Holocaust survivors, and raping of women. They lionized the architect of the October 7 massacre, Yahya Sinwar, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and many other mass murderers.

Some of the students at the Columbia encampments have been at rallies with Hamas flags and headbands, and people calling to repeat the October 7 massacre in other parts of the world to achieve “liberation.”

Being associated with designated foreign terrorist groups jumps from “free speech” considerations to the blurry definition of “domestic terrorism” to the very real and illegal area of “international terrorism” which the federal government will prosecute immediately.

4. People may not intentionally provoke someone “face-to-face” in an action likely to be met with violence. Screaming “I am Hamas” to a Jew in the aftermath of Hamas’s butchery of Jews and the genocidal group’s promise to repeat the heinous slaughter would not be protected under free speech.

5. Beyond provoking a violent response, free speech may not intimidate or harass someone or a group of people, especially if they are part of a “protected group.” For example, a mob yelling for all Zionists to get off a subway is not protected under free speech.

More generally, free speech only relates to government involvement. A private business or university may have restrictions on offensive speech that are more restrictive than federal laws. The government may then investigate the select application of free speech at private institutions when only protecting certain groups’ permitted speech while not for others.

Further, free speech does not shield someone from the ramifications of such speech. Someone may something that is protected under the government’s definition of free speech and still lose a job or opportunity because it is viewed as offensive.

The list above may overlap. For example, drawing a picture of the Islamic prophet Mohammed is protected speech but drawing it on a mosque is vandalism and harassment. Talking about an “Intifada” generally which might mean to “shake off” is okay, yet shouting to “globalize the intifada” while holding “zionism is racism” and “there is only one solution” banners before a Jewish institution is the equivalent of a bomb threat.

Free speech is a cornerstone of America—but so is liberty. The targeted harassment and intimidation of Jews across campuses and cities has crossed the line. Chanting genocidal slogans and glorifying the slaughter of Jews – at Jews – is not protected speech; it’s an assault on civil rights.

Defending the First Amendment must never come at the cost of abandoning the safety and liberty of American Jews.