Editor’s Note: Suzanne Nossel is CEO of PEN America. The views expressed here are hers. Read more opinion on CNN.

College campuses are in crisis.

As universities churn over the war between Hamas and Israel, many college presidents seem flummoxed or paralyzed. Leaders at Harvard, Rutgers, Penn, Duke, Stanford and elsewhere have issued multiple statements on the conflict, seeking to appease stakeholders irate that their first efforts either failed to forthrightly decry the Hamas attack, or neglected Palestinian suffering.

University leaders are being excoriated for what they say or don’t say, buffeted by students, faculty, alumni and donors. The uproar has led to rescinded contributions, faculty resignations and students looking to transfer. The fate of our higher education institutions will depend upon whether university leaders can fulfill their duty to simultaneously uphold free expression, curb violence and intimidation and provide equal educational opportunities for all.

The dilemma comes down to how campuses can be open to all people – meaning Jews, Muslims, Israelis, Palestinians and all other groups – and all ideas: belief in a Jewish state; favoring a single bi-national state in place of today’s Israel; the contention that Hamas’ attacks were genocidal; and the claim that the attack is best understood as an outcome of years of occupation. These dualities are hard to sustain.

For a student demonstrator, chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” may feel invigorating; for a listener the slogan may invoke the Nazi’s annihilationist vision of “Judenrein,” a land voided of Jews. In some cases, the feelings of intimidation stoked by speech may not be unintentional; protests aim to muster a boisterous show of strength to subdue other points of view.

Some campuses have embraced the goal of “psychological safety.” Yet what makes some feel safe – say a solidarity rally protesting Israel’s incursions into Gaza – can cross over into making others feel intimidated or “unsafe” – when the rally cheers the elimination of Israel and extirpation of its people. The doxxing of students who blamed Israel for Hamas’ attacks, which some defend as simply a matter of holding speakers accountable, also amounts to a form of deliberate intimidation, that can have lasting, even career-ending consequences. The line between hateful speech and the legitimate expression of controversial sentiments often can depend upon who is doing the drawing.