National Free Speech News & Commentary

By Kate McGee
Texas Tribune

Excerpt: It was going to take Keith Schnakenberg a lot to leave his tenured position at Washington University in St. Louis, where he has worked in the political science department since 2016. But when he got a message from a professor in the University of Texas at Austin’s business school encouraging him to apply for a faculty position in the business, government and society department, he decided to throw his hat in the ring.

By American Association of University Professors

Excerpt: A new report concludes that the administration of Hamline University violated the academic freedom of Professor Erika López Prater after a student complained of having been offended by Professor López Prater’s presentation of two images of the Prophet Muhammad during an online session of her art history class in October 2022.

By Zach Greenburg
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

Excerpt: Cold winters, hot wings, and “a place where you’ll make a real difference.” That’s what University at Buffalo offers its students — but not those who want to pursue their passions by participating in certain student groups. A new student government policy threatens to derecognize dozens of student groups solely for their affiliation with outside organizations. FIRE calls on the university to walk back this egregious violation of students’ First Amendment right to freedom of association.

By Liam Stack
New York Times

Excerpt: When Raegan Zelaya and Shua Wilmot decided to include their pronouns at the end of their work emails, they thought they were doing a good thing: following what they viewed as an emerging professional standard, and also sending a message of inclusivity at the Christian university where they worked.

By Adrienne Lu
Chronicle of Higher Education

Excerpt: A former psychology professor this week sued the University of California system, claiming that its use of diversity statements in hiring represents “a thinly veiled attempt to ensure dogmatic conformity throughout the university system.”

By Angel Eduardo
Persuasion, Substack

Excerpt: If only out of pure self-interest, we shouldn’t just be willing to hear the arguments of those with whom we disagree, we should be eager to. Without letting them speak, you can’t know where they stand, and, to paraphrase John Stuart Mill’s famous quote from On Liberty: If you don't know the other side's argument, you really don't know much of your own, either.