the first amendment's protections include the vast majority of speech and expression but it does have its limits these limits have been carefully honed over decades of case law into a handful of narrow categories of speech the first amendment does not protect because of this winding legal landscape there are many misconceptions as to what actually constitutes unprotected speech whether you choose to be politically active on campus or just want to try your hand at stand-up comedy at an open mic night it's important to have an understanding of where the courts draw the line between protected and unprotected speech so let's go through a quick rundown on some of the most commonly misunderstood categories of unprotected speech true threats and intimidation first let's talk about true threats a recognized exception to the first amendment in the 2003 decision virginia v black the supreme court of the united states defines true threats as statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals the court also held that speech becomes unprotected intimidation when it is a type of true threat where a speaker directs a threat to a person or group of persons with the intent of placing the victim in fear of bodily harm or death these definitions place emphasis on the actual intent and seriousness of the threat this allows the authorities to take things like bomb threats seriously while also stopping the government from punishing clearly hyperbolic expression such as the infamous photo of kathy griffin holding a depiction of donald trump's head or a gamer yelling i'll kill you at another fortnight player it's important to keep in mind that these definitions envision speech or conduct aimed at a specific individual or set of individuals they do not include more generalized comments in 2007 one student at valdosta state university in georgia learned the importance of the narrowly tailored definition of true threats student hayden barnes chose to protest vsu president ronald zakari's plan to use 30 million dollars in student fees to construct two parking garages on campus he did so by emailing campus leaders with his environmental concerns and posting a satirical collage on facebook the collage included pictures of zakari a parking garage and the caption s-a-v-e zakari memorial parking garage a sarcastic reference to statements zakari made about preserving his legacy as president of vsu through the parking garages claiming that barnes use of the word memorial implied a threat to zakari's safety zakari had barnes expelled on the grounds that he was a clear and present danger to the campus barnes filed a lawsuit in part on first amendment grounds and ultimately prevailed without the supreme court's careful definition of true threats those in power could punish anyone for pushing back against them like barnes did incitement speech also becomes unprotected when it is used to promote imminent violent or lawless action this exception also known as incitement originated from a 1969 case called brandenburg the ohio in that case the court distinguished between mere advocacy of lawless behavior and incitement to imminent lawless action in order for speech to lose its protected status the court ruled that there had to be evidence that the language in question was being used to encourage immediate lawlessness and that the illegal action was likely to take place four years later the court applied this standard to a case involving an anti-war protester on a college campus gregory hess had been arrested for disorderly conduct after he shouted that protesters would take the streets later the court overturned his conviction on the ground that hess's speech amounted to nothing more than advocacy of illegal action at some indefinite future time harassment to be considered unlawful student on student or peer harassment behavior must be unwelcome discriminatory on the basis of protected status like gender or race directed at an individual and so severe pervasive and objectively offensive that the victim is effectively denied equal access to an institution's resources and opportunities in short isolated pure speech or expression is unlikely to constitute harassment on its own to qualify as pure harassment speech must be targeted discriminatory and typically part of a larger pattern of behavior that hinders the educational experience of the targeted individual following someone repeatedly targeting them with your conduct and refusing to leave them alone after a request to do so can rise to the level of harassment that would land you in the student conduct office let's look at a case where a student was improperly charged with harassment by their university back in 2014 at the university of oregon a student was hanging out in her friend's dorm and she looked out of a window and spotted two strangers a male and female student walking together she proceeded to shout i hit it first out the window at them in jest despite apologizing to the students when they confronted her about the joke she was charged by the university with harassment disruption and disorderly conduct knowing her rights this student pushed back against the university and the charges were ultimately dropped her speech may not have been the height of comedy but it was absolutely not punishable by the university consistent with the first amendment if she had followed the other students to class and continued to yell at them and if she had specifically targeted them for their identities her speech might have crossed the line into harassment but this isolated comment did not meet the supreme court's standard for peer harassment unlawful conduct the last category we'll discuss is speech that involves unlawful or unprotected conduct such as vandalism destruction of property and disruption while you may not agree with every event held on campus every flyer you see or every viewpoint you hear vandalizing property or disrupting events is not protected expressive activity this includes shout downs grabbing microphones illegally recording others blocking entrances and related activity now some of the examples just mentioned are tactics used by some protesters as forms of civil disobedience while civil disobedience can be a vehicle for change you should remember that civil disobedience is by definition not protected speech or activity and that participating in such activity can lawfully result in punishment knowing the law and in particular knowing the limits to your first amendment rights is important before thinking about taking such actions the first amendment has been held to allow you to wear a jacket that says the draft in a public courthouse yell will take the streets later during a protest and burn the american flag in protest you can even call for the overthrow of the united states government but the university administration has the ability to apply reasonable time place and manner restrictions these restrictions apply narrow limits to when where and how a student may present a message for example while it may be permissible to shout stop the war or support our troops at noon in an open space on campus the administration has the right to prevent the same speech from being delivered at the same decibel level in the hall of a dormitory at 3 am or right outside of a classroom window disrupting a class it's important to understand that time place and manner restrictions are valid if they're reasonable however the first amendment does not permit targeting the actual content of speech in most instances the goal of the university is the pursuit of knowledge so it has a moral obligation to maintain an environment free of harassment and substantial disruption to the educational experience if you encounter speech that sets off some red flags for you but you're not necessarily sure if it crosses the line into any unprotected categories consider reaching out to the dean of students or public safety it doesn't hurt to ask your own voice is your most powerful tool when advocating for yourself your fellow students and your causes if you see behavior that rubs you the wrong way write an op-ed for your student newspaper organize a protest or join student groups that encourage the kind of behavior you want to be around be proactive in creating the college community you want to be part of