Commentary: The Unholy Alliance: How college administrators and students unite to silence speakers

February 12, 2025 1 min read

Sean Stevens and Greg Lukianoff 
The Eternally Radical Idea 

Excerpt: We’ve both written a lot about how hostility to freedom of expression on college and university campuses has grown and intensified over the past decade. One thing that tends to go unacknowledged is that, during this time period, a tacit unholy alliance between administrators and students has emerged. In this piece, we’ll explore how this alliance has contributed to a record-breaking surge in deplatforming attempts on American college and university campuses over the past two years.

Click here for link to full article


Leave a comment


Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

Trump Order Threatens University Libraries, Museums

March 20, 2025 1 min read

Kathryn Palmer
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: A $10,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services is allowing a tribal college in northern Michigan to continue offering library services during a building renovation. The IMLS, which is the largest federal funding source for U.S. museums and libraries, also awarded a historically Black university in Virginia $52,000 to digitize an archival collection about the women’s college it absorbed in 1932. And an academic researcher in Florida is counting on a $150,000 grant to help school librarians better support students who are autistic.

But as of last week, those and hundreds of other federally funded programs at museums and libraries—many housed at cash-strapped colleges and universities—are in jeopardy.

Read More
University of California Will Stop Requiring Diversity Statements in Hiring

March 20, 2025 1 min read

Vimal Patel
New York Times

Excerpt: The University of California said on Wednesday that it would stop requiring the use of diversity statements in hiring, a practice praised by some who said it made campuses more inclusive but criticized by others who said it did the opposite.

Read More
The influential University of California system ends the use of DEI statements in faculty hiring.

March 20, 2025 1 min read

Nicole Barbaro Simovski, Ph.D.
Free the Inquiry

Excerpt: Diversity statements started to be commonly required for applications for university faculty positions starting in the 2010s. These statements—often one- to two-page essays detailing a candidate's commitment to advancing diversity, enquiry, and inclusion goals in their academic work—have been a fierce topic of debate. On the extremes, one side sees diversity statements as simply asking faculty candidates to demonstrate how they advance the university’s values. The other side sees them as thinly veiled ideological filters in hiring.

Read More