In an ironic twist, Columbia University—long branded a “red light” institution by FIRE for policies that restrict free speech on campus—asked a federal judge to dismiss a high-profile Title IX lawsuit against the university on Friday, invoking the First Amendment.

Columbia cited its deep commitment to the ideals of free speech in arguing it could not have stopped then-student Emma Sulkowicz from publicly accusing plaintiff Paul Nungesser of being a serial rapist and then carrying her mattress around campus in a for-credit act of performance art. Nungesser said Columbia’s failure to intervene on his behalf amounted to university-sanctioned, gender-based harassment that made him a campus pariah.

“[T]he University by its nature is dedicated to the free expression of ideas,” Columbia wrote in its motion to dismiss Nungesser’s gender-discrimination suit, which was filed in April, citing a “cherished tradition of vigorous, even raucous, debate” on campus that precluded it from silencing Sulkowicz. Columbia further asserts:

The core of his Complaint appears to be Plaintiff’s allegation that the University should have prevented Ms. Sulkowicz from carrying a mattress around campus as part of her protests. However, at colleges and universities like Columbia the “atmosphere of speculation, experiment, and creation is essential to the quality of higher education.” McCauley v. Univ. of the Virgin Islands, 618 F.3d 232, 243 (3d Cir. 2010).

Columbia writes in its motion that while it is “a private institution…not subject to the Constitutional provisions on free speech,…content-based restrictions [on student speech] are antithetical to the free expression of ideas to which Columbia—and every other great university—is committed.”

Columbia also declared that it must “be mindful of the free speech rights of its students,” that “proscriptions affecting speech and expression must be implemented carefully,” and “that some subjectively offensive speech must be tolerated.”

We at FIRE couldn’t agree more. That’s why we have questioned Columbia’s numerous speech codes, which impose the very kinds of content-based restrictions on student speech that the university now decries.

Foremost among these codes is a “red light” policy stating that “No User of University email may take any of the following actions: … Send obscene, harassing, offensive or other unwelcome messages.” Perhaps if Nungesser wishes to pursue further charges against Sulkowicz, he should focus not on the art project accusing him of rape that made national news, but on whether Sulkowicz ever said anything “offensive” or “unwelcome” over email. Because Columbia is apparently perfectly ready to crack down on that kind of expression, notwithstanding its profession to a judge about how it is so careful to tolerate offensive speech.

Columbia also has three “yellow light” policies related to “gender-based misconduct,” “acts of bias and hate,” and “discriminatory harassment,” all of which FIRE has determined to be unacceptably vague and prone to administrative abuse.

Speaking of administrative abuse, FIRE has intervened in debacle after debacle at Columbia. From the Law School to its Teachers College to the Hockey Club, Columbia has spent years demonstrating its blatant lack of respect for free expression. Here are some examples:

Thus, the final irony is Columbia’s statement in the Nungesser case that “[our] own policies embody” the highest ideals of free speech. Yes, Columbia promises exactly that in its policy commitments to free expression. But other Columbia policies, and certainly its practices, give the lie to this promise. If what Columbia said in its court filing was true, nobody would be happier about it than FIRE—but that’s simply not the reality at Columbia right now, nor has it been for many years.