Kim Forde-Mazrui
Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Research Professor of LawFirst Amendment Limits Universities' Options in Responding to Hateful SpeechVerbal or physical harassment of minority college students is not uncommon, with 20 percent of minority college students reporting such abuse, said Kim Forde-Mazrui, the Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Research Professor in Law and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Law at the University of Virginia. But universities are limited in their ability to take action against such harassment. "To my knowledge, every university that has had a hate speech code has had it struck down," Mr. Forde-Mazrui said, including the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin, and Stanford University. While Michigan's and Wisconsin's codes were struck down because of the First Amendment, Stanford was not beholden to federal constitutional law regarding free speech because the school is private. The Stanford code instead was struck down under a California statute protecting free speech. "The First Amendment provides real constraints on what can be done," Mr. Forde-Mazrui said. There are many reasons to uphold free speech—limiting speech could have a chilling effect on dissent, for example. "Many people wanted to clam people up, like Malcolm X and others, for criticizing government," Mr. Forde-Mazrui said. The government, if allowed, might censor those most critical of its legitimacy. Mr. Forde-Mazrui said Congress was unlikely to enact federal hate-speech legislation in response to incidents on American college campuses, including some at U.Va., in recent years. And he said the First Amendment limited action by state governments. But a university hate-speech code might pass First Amendment muster if the law included intent to intimidate; selection of the victim based on such criteria as race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender; and the use of "fighting words." "'Fighting words' are something we can identify," Mr. Forde-Mazrui said. A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Mr. Forde-Mazrui clerked for Judge Cornelia G. Kennedy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and worked as an associate with Sidley Austin LLP in Washington, D.C. He joined U.Va.'s law faculty in 1996 and studies contemporary issues involving race and law, such as racial profiling and race in the child placement process. Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Research Professorship in LawThe Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Research Professorship in Law was established in 2004 through the generosity of more than one hundred donors, almost all of them African-American alumni of the University's School of Law. The professorship honors James Thurgood Marshall, who served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 to 1991 as its first black justice. The professorship will be awarded to scholars of distinction whose work will further the honoree's legacy. ChairholdersKim A. Forde-Mazrui 2004–present Web LinksThe Constitutional Implications of Race-Neutral Affirmative Action |