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The saga over George Mason University (GMU) PhD student Nicholas Decker’s Substack essay, “When Must We Kill Them?” is still at the top of my mind.
Decker’s essay advocated violence against President Trump and his administration, citing their immigration policies as a threat to democracy. GMU reported him to law enforcement. In my initial X post about this story, I noted Decker claimed he was confronted by the Secret Service, who allegedly deemed his essay legal and noted that he appeared to soften his stance in an Editor’s Note, emphasizing violence as a “last resort.” But after seeing my post, Decker retorted on X: “I haven’t walked back anything. I added notes for semi-literate buffoons like you.”
As I reported last week, the saga sparked intense debate over Decker’s free speech rights, with many criticizing GMU for reporting him to authorities.
Following my report, in fact, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) emailed me, pointing to a statement by Student Association Counsel Zach Greenberg. He argued:
George Mason University referred a student to law enforcement because his Substack article calling for violence against the Trump administration was ‘not the Mason way.’ But the First Amendment—binding on public universities like GMU—protects core political speech consisting of rhetorical hyperbole and the mere endorsement of violence. Student expression on public issues is very much the Mason way. The university is named after Founding Father George Mason, who advocated for abolishing a tyrannical government in his 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, which formed the basis of the Bill of Rights containing the First Amendment. We call on GMU to live up to its name by refraining from punishing this student for clearly protected political speech.
On April 22, FIRE reiterated its defense on X, stating, “When administrators act like King George III, not @GeorgeMasonU’s revolutionary namesake, they’ve lost their way.”
Some Minding the Campus readers emailed me, agreeing with FIRE’s legal argument while condemning Decker’s article. Others firmly opposed FIRE’s position. One X user commented, “The University was right to refer him for threats against a sitting president.” Similarly, our own Adam Kissel argued that FIRE mischaracterizes Decker’s essay, noting it went beyond philosophical musings.
The legal debate could fill volumes—and while I regret not attending law school, I’m no lawyer. Whether Decker has the right to write an essay calling on people to kill Trump is something I leave to your judgment, but I do want to spend some time pointing out the hypocrisy of this situation.
[RELATED: GMU PhD Student’s Call to Kill Trump Sparks Free Speech Debate]
Imagine how fast the FBI would’ve knocked down Decker’s door if he’d targeted Biden or Harris while they were in office, say, over their support for transgender surgeries on teens or open borders. Or, imagine how quickly GMU might have kicked Decker out of the program if he’d written “When Must We Kill Them?” about LGBTQ or black students? This is the same university after all that threw the book at conservative students for merely passing out flyers.
The fact that Decker faces minimal consequences is unsurprising to me; it’s only another example to add to an already exhaustive list of examples where leftist students get a pass, but conservative students face consequences for simply expressing their thoughts.
At Davidson College, just last month, Cynthia Huang, who’s endured death threats for her pro-life stance, faced discipline for a pro-Israel pamphlet and an Instagram post about an Olympic boxer’s gender controversy. The college is accusing her of spreading misinformation and fostering Islamophobia.
But we have also seen leftist students trash campuses and commit violence against Jewish students and face no consequences. In fact, Sam Abrams has informed us that some Jewish students at Sarah Lawrence College have opted to finish their schooling online simply because the campus environment is not safe for Jewish students.
GMU should be commended, I think, for reporting Decker to authorities, but it could have taken stronger action. Had Decker’s essay targeted Biden, Harris, LGBTQ students, or black students, I’m confident he’d have been expelled from the program.
And speaking of being expelled, Decker did face at least one real-world repercussion: eviction.
On April 19, he posted on X, “My landlord evicted me due to your threats. Anyone have a spare room?” User EspressoCatholic replied, “Our threats? You made a death threat against nearly half the country. I’m sorry you have Asperger’s and may not have realized that was unacceptable, but hopefully this experience has taught you.”
EspressoCatholic should note, however, that Decker’s eviction won’t likely stop him from penning more essays urging violence against political foes. He’s landed softly, thanks to enablers bankrolling him. As of today, he’s raised $4,192, which he says will cover new rent and charitable causes.
All in all, there is no such thing as accountability for people on the left.
Follow Jared Gould on X.
Image: “George Mason University” by Adam Fagen on Flickr
Last I knew, Adam Kissel was the Director of Individual Rights at FIRE — he always struck me as level headed and there’s more here because the BIT is inevitably involved in something like this.
But with all respect to Zach Greenberg, whom I’ve never met, I don’t think he knows that much about Founding Father George Mason, either. Between the DAR and now DEI, between President Wilson and now Presidents Obama/Biden, most folk don’t. (I do because I was a child at the very en of the tradition of oral family histories — and then I verified these stories in college.)
“The university is named after Founding Father George Mason, who advocated for abolishing a tyrannical government in his 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, which formed the basis of the Bill of Rights containing the First Amendment.”
Amongst everything else, there is a big difference between advocating for the dissolution of a government and for killing the king….
“The constitution is not a suicide pact.”
–Robert Jackson, Arthur Goldberg