The University of Connecticut violated two students’ free-speech rights by attempting to expel them from college housing for allegedly using a racial slur, a new lawsuit says, raising the question of whether a university has the authority to punish offensive speech on its campus.

The students, Ryan Mucaj and Jarred Karal, both seniors, were arrested in October 2019 after the campus police tracked them down following the online posting of a video that allegedly shows the pair shouting a racial slur in a parking lot. They were charged with ridicule on account of creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality, or race, according to the Hartford Courant….

The Chronicle of Higher Education