Feds May Force Universities To Violate The First Amendment

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Department of Justice’s recent interpretation of Title IX after its investigation into the University of New Mexico’s (UNM) sexual discrimination policies will require colleges and universities to violate the First Amendment, according to a free speech advocacy group.

The DOJ found the UNM improperly defined sexual harassment, and declared in its findings letter that sexual harassment is “(u)nwelcome conduct of a sexual nature” including “verbal conduct” –- “regardless of whether it causes a hostile environment or is quid pro quo.”

“The Department of Justice has put universities in an impossible position: violate the Constitution or risk losing federal funding,” said Greg Lukianoff, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) president and CEO, in a statement.
...
The DOJ’s interpretation leaves open the possibility that every student is a sexual harasser with its broad definition. Any speech deemed offensive of a sexual nature — whether it be a joke overheard between two students by another student who finds it offensive or a lecture by a professor on how one could contract AIDs — could all be defined as sexual harassment.'