Among the speakers were University of Southern California Professor of Law Rebecca Brown, Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, Yale Professor of Law Robert Post, New York University Professor of Law Jeremy Waldron, and the moderator, Arizona State University Professor of Law James Weinstein.

20 minutes into the event, loud protesting began outside the building, and Chemerinsky decided to comment on how the topic of their debate directly related to the protest.

"We're talking about the right to do what is happening outside," Chemerinsky said.

When guests checked into the event, they were handed pamphlets with bios for each speaker. The pamphlets primarily highlighted the extensive education and achievements of the panelists.

The student protesters, however, brought their own pamphlets and placed them in the bathrooms and other areas inside the law school. On the student pamphlet, it read, "A panel that discusses Palestinian issues without bringing a Palestinian voice is nothing more than illegitimate propaganda."

The student pamphlets also commented on Erwin Chemerinsky's alleged lie that students at University of California-Berkeley spread bloody caricatures depicting him around the school to cover up for his wife, who berated and used physical force against a Palestinian law student during her protest speech outside of their home. 

The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Jewish Studies and the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict sponsored the panel on free speech. 

"Hateful speech, even speech that promotes genocide, is safeguarded," Chemerinsky said.

Chemerinsky said murderous speech is protected as long as it doesn't lead to action and disruption of education.

"Equality demands it, and democracy depends on it,” Professor Brown said.

Free speech in universities is a complex subject because while students' free speech is protected under the constitution, universities should also be able to intervene if the form of speech causes harm. While students should be allowed to be heard, creating any disruption or hostile environment can lead to a full-blown investigation by the Department of Education, posing the risk that universities may lose federal funding.

"When hate speech laws have been adopted, they're so frequently used against the very people they're meant to protect," Professor Post said.

Professor Post said that, as a professor, he needs to let people express what's on their minds in order to keep a conversation going, but there are instances where this behavior goes too far. 

"If you're going to advocate genocide in a university, you can't educate," Post said.

The complexity of hate speech in this particular case of Hamas and Israel is especially difficult. The conflict between Hamas and Israel has many levels and factors including Palestinian freedom of movement, the status of Jerusalem, security, water rights, the Gaza strip, and Palestinian right of return.

The panelists often referred to one phrase, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." This is a common phrase used in protests expressing solidarity with Palestine, and it was one of the ones chanted right outside the law building.

Outside the building, there was continuous chanting and the sounds of drums and trumpets, which Professor Waldron described as “not the form of speech that fosters conversation.”
Many panelists believe protesters on college campuses have the right to protest whatever they believe in, but they also believe that regulations need to be in place.

"Hate speech is condemned in the countries that have hate speech laws," Waldron said. "Not because it's speech that we hate and not because it's speech that stresses me, but because it's language that is intended to stir up people and incite murderous rage among the community of listeners to whom it is directed."

The First Amendment states that the government cannot censor, punish, or otherwise interfere with the expression of ideas, opinions, or beliefs in any form of communication. However, the First Amendment does not protect speech that poses a real threat of violence against anyone or anything.

Despite the protests from ASU students and students at their respective universities, the panelists concluded that they cannot silence students' free speech.

"I have to hear what my students have to say," Post said. "Because if I shut them up, then they're not going to listen to me, and they're going to let me educate them."