Gee, why would free speech advocates have a problem with rules that make everyone a criminal?

Blake Baxter of The College Fix reports.

Free Speech Advocates Alarmed by New Federal Sexual Harassment Rules

New guidelines from the Department of Education lower the standards of what constitutes sexual harassment to any “unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature.” Free speech activists say this definition is too broad and could endanger First Amendment rights.

An agreement between the U.S. Department of Education and the University of Montana is purported to be the blueprint for sweeping changes to sexual harassment protocol for colleges and universities nationwide. However, it has drawn the ire of some free speech advocates who fear that certain parts of “the Agreement” are in violation of their First Amendment rights.

The new rules are intended to help eliminate the sexually hostile environment that has plagued the Montana campus and to protect students from sexual harassment and assault. This expansive reform comes in the wake of a string of sexual assault and harassment allegations that have been made at the university over a three-year period.

The first incident of the series of events that led to “the Agreement” occurred in the fall of 2011 when the University of Montana received reports that two female students had been raped by male students, two of which were alleged to be football players. The university responded by hiring former Montana Supreme Court Justice Diane Barz to conduct an independent investigation of the claims in order to stay in compliance with their Title IX obligations. In the investigation, Justice Barz uncovered seven more reports of sexual assault that occurred on the campus between September 2010 and December 2011.