In reaction to a racial incident featuring banana skins and string nooses at American University, the Washington Post praised the university for its response and wrote, “Two-bit provocations such as hanging nooses on campuses play on emotions made raw in the wake of a presidential campaign that featured the vilification of minorities and barely veiled race-baiting. For university administrators, the challenge is to address that legitimate pain with sensitivity and make crystal clear that racist signs, symbols and speech are off-limits.” (The Washington Post, May 10, 2017, by Editorial Board)
Law professor Eugene Volokh, The Washington Post, May 11, 2017, thinks the editorial is well founded in advocating punishments for threats of violence but strays in calling for administrators to punish racist speech. “…the editorial’s proposal is an awful idea,” writes Volokh, “At public universities, it would violate the First Amendment; at private universities, it would violate many of the universities’ stated commitments to open debate, as well as basic principles of academic freedom.”