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Protecting free speech can be challenging. Consider Bill S2493, passed last June and again last week by the New York state Senate.

The bill would withhold state university funding from any student group calling for a boycott of Israel or other "allied nations." Supporters say it's a way to show solidarity with Israel during a time of increasing anti-Semitism.

To be sure, that's a noble cause. The anti-Semitic acts being committed around the state and nation are reprehensible.

But Bill 2493 quite likely violates the First Amendment. It should be rejected by the Assembly, where it currently is in the Government Operations committee.

The bill specifically would bar state universities, city universities, and community colleges from funding any student organization that promotes, encourages, or permits boycotts against certain nations or permits intolerance or hate speech. Besides Israel, the anti-boycott bill would cover other NATO countries, South Korea, Japan, Ireland and several Pacific and Latin American treaty signatories.

The bill is unconstitutional.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a group founded in 1999 to defend and sustain individual rights at Americas colleges and universities, explains it this way: "The bills language is broad, encompassing both actual boycotts and merely encouraging others to boycott, and would compel New York universities to distribute their funding on a viewpoint-discriminatory basis. That is, New York universities could fund groups that discourage boycotts of Israel (or other allied nations), but not those that encourage it."

The U.S. Supreme Court, in Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin v. Southworth (2000), held that When a university requires its students to pay fees to support the extracurricular speech of other students, all in the interest of open discussion, it may not prefer some viewpoints to others.

State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, voted for defunding student groups; Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, D-Utica, is co-sponsor of a similar bill in the Assembly.

We condemn this pattern of deplorable threats that has spread fear within the Jewish communities across our state, and New York will not turn a blind eye to such intolerance, Griffo said. We reaffirm our commitment to work with our state and federal law enforcement agencies to hold accountable the people who perpetrate these acts of hate.

No argument. By all means, hold the criminals accountable. Anyone convicted of hate crimes should be punished to the fullest extent allowed by law.

But don't pass bills that violate the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

That's what this legislation does, and it should not become law.

See the article here:
OUR VIEW: State Bill S2493 means well but likely violates First Amendment - Utica Observer Dispatch