An appeals hearing Tuesday morning turned into a fiery defense of the First Amendment as college students challenged Virginia Tech’s anonymous bias reporting policy.

“How can this possibly not have a chilling effect?” said Judge Harvie Wilkinson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit as lawyers for Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University defended the school’s Bias-Related Incidents Protocol. “Something you say can give rise to an anonymous report to this committee, then you’ll get a letter from the dean of students asking you to explain yourself. And there will be a report in the dean files to be referred as needed.”

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