Bans on “Divisive Concepts” Risk Stifling Speech

Erin Shaw July 22, 2026 1 min read

Bans on “Divisive Concepts” Risk Stifling Speech

Erin Shaw
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal

The growing (though not unanimous) acknowledgement that academia has lost public trust may be increasingly uncontroversial. But identifying remedies to repair that broken trust is proving to be much more contested. 

With the ban on the promotion of “divisive concepts” in North Carolina’s public institutions, the Tar Heel State joins the likes of the Lone Star State and the Sunshine State in aggressive reform efforts that risk squelching intellectual inquiry. Ultimately, bans like these do nothing to strengthen free expression, and in fact do the exact opposite: they stifle speech and create climates of fear.

Click here for link to full article 


Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.


Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

Trump Administration Can’t Cite Changed Priorities to Terminate Grants
Trump Administration Can’t Cite Changed Priorities to Terminate Grants

Ryann Quinn July 22, 2026 1 min read

When university researchers started to receive notice last year that the Trump administration was canceling their grants, they often didn’t get a clear explanation why beyond that their project “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”

Read More
New Academic Freedom Podcast on Pernell Decision
New Academic Freedom Podcast on Pernell Decision

Keith E. Whittington  July 22, 2026 1 min read

A new episode of the Academic Freedom Podcast has been released. The podcast is sponsored by the Academic Freedom Alliance and the Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech at Yale Law School.

Read More
After punishing people for Charlie Kirk comments, colleges are paying steep settlements
After punishing people for Charlie Kirk comments, colleges are paying steep settlements

Graham Piro  July 16, 2026 1 min read

Violating the First Amendment will cost you. Universities and other public institutions are learning this lesson the hard way as the dust settles on a series of lawsuits brought by university faculty and staff who were punished for their comments about Charlie Kirk’s murder last September.

Read More