According to a Tuesday release by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s influence in Penn’s response to antisemitism following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks represents a “chilling effect” of government influence in higher education.
The Sept. 16 report, authored by 2025 University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School graduate and FIRE Government Affairs Counsel Michael Hurley, categorized Shapiro’s sway at Penn as a form of unprecedented government overreach. FIRE also wrote that the governor’s involvement on campus could lead administrators to censor students in an effort to enforce anti-discrimination and harassment policies.
“Enforcing valid anti-discrimination laws is important,” Hurley wrote. “But there’s a significant danger when state actors attempt to use the rationale of anti-discrimination to regulate speech at private universities.”
Hurley also emphasized the “incredibly powerful and uniquely dangerous” implications of Shapiro’s regulations at Penn.
“If left unchecked, this backdoor regulation risks turning private universities into de facto extensions of the state — undermining both academic freedom and the First Amendment itself,” he added.
During the 2023-24 academic year, Shapiro’s office became directly involved in the University’s response to antisemitism after he invoked a long-dormant state statute to appoint 1982 College graduate and Philadelphia-based lawyer Robb Fox to Penn’s Board of Trustees. Fox was meant to use his role to respond to antisemitism on campus, and he quickly familiarized himself with the University’s affairs including contributing to Penn’s Task Force on Antisemitism.
Recent reporting by The Chronicle of Higher Education has revealed the depth of Fox’s role and involvement in Penn affairs since being appointed.
Hurley classified Fox’s involvement as “jawboning,” an indirect form of censorship from government officials.
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“The First Amendment only protects against state censorship, not private regulation of speech, so when the state pressures private institutions into censoring disfavored speech, it blurs the legal line between unconstitutional state action and protected private conduct,” Hurley continued.
He added that Penn will “censor [students] first and ask questions later” in response to Shapiro’s efforts “to over-enforce their anti-discrimination and harassment policies in ways that prohibit or chill what would otherwise be lawful speech.”
On Sept. 9, FIRE ranked Penn among the worst universities in the nation for free speech, earning an overall score of 51.5 out of 100.
University scores are determined by assessing “student surveys, campus policies, and recent speech-related controversies,” according to the report. Any institution scoring below 60 points receives an F mark — Penn was one of 167 schools to receive an F — producing an average score across all institutional assessments of a failing 58.63.
Hurley wrote that Penn’s “situation is likely to get worse, not better, when the government amplifies the impulse to censor.”
“Combating unlawful antisemitic harassment is a noble goal, but when powerful public officials wield their influence to regulate speech at private universities, they’re playing a dangerous game,” he wrote.
