All told, outside of a small number of narrowly defined exceptions, speech by students, staff, and faculty is protected against reprisal by public universities. In each of the examples above, the speech was at least partially—if not fully—protected by the First Amendment (although some of the speech uttered by students might not have been protected if it had been said by faculty or staff). Public universities can achieve essential societal values of equality, diversity, and inclusivity and promote civility in discourse while also respecting the dictates of the First Amendment. Universities have tremendous institutional academic freedom to set curricula, build programming, engage in out-of-class educational opportunities, and determine whom they will hire and admit. Public universities need to promote essential societal values in ways that guarantee they are not engaging in viewpoint discrimination or compelling expression of ideological beliefs, ensuring these institutions are held accountable constitutionally and do not impose punishments that fall disproportionately on groups that have been traditionally, and continue to be, marginalized.
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