(The Center Square) – A second anti-ICE flyer discovered on Penn State’s campus has brought bipartisan agreement among student groups, even as a national free-speech watchdog warns the university’s prior response risks violating the First Amendment.
The latest flyer follows a Jan. 29 incident in which one depicting an ICE agent hanging from a noose, with the words, “DEAD ICE AGENTS CAN’T KILL,” appeared on a pole outside Penn State’s primary student union building, the HUB-Robeson Center.
Images of the flyer circulated online, accompanied by calls to identify and punish those responsible.
Penn State condemned it and announced an investigation, however, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, FIRE, argues that while the images and messages are offensive to many, it does not fall into one of the narrow categories of unprotected speech – especially at a public university.
On Feb. 5, FIRE sent Penn State a letter urging them to cease any investigation, to refrain from punishing the people behind it, and to remain institutionally neutral on political and social questions unrelated to university governance.
Based on publicly available facts, nothing suggests that this speech is not unprotected, Charlotte Arneson, FIRE’s program officer of Campus Rights Advocacy told The Center Square.
Arneson explained that context matters and speech loses First Amendment protection only in narrow categories such as true threats, incitement, or unlawful harassment. While she acknowledged that language celebrating or describing violence can be uncomfortable and offensive, she said those statements still often fall into the category of political speech – one of the most important types, and one the Supreme Court has clearly protected.
As a public university, she added, Penn State is required to respect its students’ First Amendment rights.
On the flip side, Arneson pointed to a case at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where on Jan. 31, the student group Illini Republicans posted an image to Instagram that appeared to be an ICE agent pointing a gun at the head of a kneeling man, a reference seeming to depict Alex Pretti, that was also a disturbing image. It read, “Only Traitors Help Invaders.” FIRE also defended that speech for similar reasons, she said.
“We’re not taking a side on what the messages are conveying,” said Arneson. “It’s about the right to make that speech that we’re defending.”
She said Penn State has declined to respond to them, so the organization recently stood outside the HUB-Robeson Center engaging with students and handed out over 250 campus speech rights pamphlets.
FIRE says it will follow up with the school and continue its educational efforts. Penn State, contacted for comment, referred us to its website for information on its free speech policies.
Meanwhile, on Feb. 28, the same anti-ICE flyer was again posted outside the student union. This time, two student groups – the Penn State Republicans and Democrats – released a joint statement condemning the violent rhetoric.
After the second flyer was spotted, Tristin Kilgore, president of the Penn State College Republicans, told The Center Square he realized rhetoric like calling for the death of ICE agents would continue to be promoted – and they needed more than their members to stand against it.
So, after speaking with the group’s vice president, they approached the Penn State College Democrats.
Their statement says this kind of dangerous and reckless rhetoric, calling for violence against our federal law enforcement officers and others, is unacceptable in today’s America.
“It’s about fostering a more stable and constructive political environment and ensuring students feel safe expressing their views and opinions without fear of retaliation – not about political wins or partisanship.”
Kilgore said that while most of the students he has spoken with agree it’s unacceptable, there are some who admit it’s close to the line but consider it free speech, and therefore allowable.
Reactions to their Instagram statement are predictably mixed, and Kilgore noted a comment from a professor at the University of Pittsburgh calling ICE illegitimate. He said there are also comments from Penn State students who support this type of rhetoric.
In his opinion, targeting a specific group, using the image of an ICE officer, and considering the increased assaults and violence against agents, pushes it to a place where it would probably be against the law.
The most important thing to understand is, he said, as a Penn State community, or as Americans, this is not something that can be allowed to go on, because there are real world consequences.
“Look at what happened to Charlie Kirk, to the President, and Ella Cook, who was the vice president of College Republicans at Brown University,” he said.
Cook was one of two students killed, and nine others wounded, on campus in December.
The joint statement says, “If we hope to begin making positive and lasting changes in our country, it must, and will, start with the Young Americans. We hope a moment of division like this can serve as a chance to bring us all back together.”
