When speech is harassment, who protects students?
A visitor to colleges throughout Washington state has sparked a conversation about whether free speech protects hate speech.
By Rae Watkins
On May 23, visitor Dennis Zyalick, a Jewish antisemite, went to the UW Tacoma campus stirred up some concerns about how colleges handle on-campus harassment of students at public campuses. He held a sign that said “the Holocaust is a lie” and “Abolish Jewishness.” He was previously arrested for aggravated criminal damage at Arizona State University in 2023 for vandalizing a museum exhibiting solidarity for Ukraine with Swastikas and other antisemitic symbols.
Previously, on May 14, Zyalick appeared at the UW Seattle campus, aggravating and yelling at students and passers by that their critical thinking was failing them, and that universities like the UW are leading them down the path to blindness. Naturally, students called campus security, feeling unsafe and generally threatened by Zyalick’s manner. While responders from UW Seattle Police Department refused to act on student feedback of concerns for their safety, within weeks after the murder of Juniper Blessing took place on the UW Seattle campus, UWPD reported that he had been lingering on campus the week prior, and admitted that Zyalick had been reported shouting at and harassing students during this time. They refused to remove him, citing that he has a right to free speech, despite the complaints being about his manner and aggression, which are not related to his speech at all.
It is unknown whether security or campus police were called at UW Tacoma, as Zyalick’s appearance occurred over a weekend, and our campus safety hours run Monday through Friday.
Shortly after his stint at UW Seattle and before his appearance at UW Tacoma, Zyalick was spotted participating in the same activities at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, and campus officials redacted similarly to student complaints, citing free speech in order to avoid the inconvenience of addressing his actions.
These public universities are operating under normal procedure, speech is protected, university campuses are public spaces and a problem only arises if physical harm or damage is done to a person or property. The problem here, is of course that only some speech is protected, behavior is certainly regulable under the law, and damage is done long before fists fly in the case of racist and hateful speech.
Campuses have a responsibility to protect their students, and free speech cannot continue to be used as a shield to accountability for the bad behavior of individuals, particularly when there is significant evidence in First Amendment theory that hate speech, while not a legally defined category of speech does exist and does create a pathway for tolerance toward hateful and violent acts. Citing the First Amendment to avoid addressing the blatant behavioral aggression displayed by Zyalick is a slap in the face after the violence that the UW campuses have seen collectively and individually this year. Must more students face violent crimes in order for campus police to take them seriously?
If removal of an individual causing disturbances is only legal after physical harm is in place, who is protecting, let alone serving our students in times of crisis and high tension? This is not an issue of regulating speech. A person sitting in the quad or on the Prairie Line trail with a sign is not the same as someone yelling at students and calling them names and spreading active disinformation. Lines must be drawn between ethical and well-intentioned protest and active disruption and aggression.
