Are private universities such as Columbia and Princeton, where pro-Palestinian protests have been held, generally bound by the First Amendment?

Authorities including the Stanford Constitutional Law Center, Northwestern University law professors and the New York Civil Liberties Union say private universities generally are not bound by the First Amendment.

Among the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment are the rights of individuals to speak freely and assemble peaceably.

“While public universities are beholden to principles of the First Amendment,” they may impose narrow limits on free speech, such as time and place, says the freedom of speech advocacy group PEN America.

“Because private universities are not government entities,” they generally are not bound by the First Amendment and “may impose stricter limitations.”

The private universities claim was made April 25, 2024, on social media by attorney Rick Esenberg, president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.

Esenberg cited to Wisconsin Watch two U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the First Amendment not applying to entities that are not “state actors.”