Free speech group demands LSU rehire graduate assistant terminated for vulgar voicemail

July 21, 2023 1 min read

Piper Hutchinson
Louisiana Illuminator

Excerpt: A national free speech organization has sent a letter to LSU President William F. Tate that demands the university undo its termination of a graduate assistant who left a vulgar voicemail for a state senator.

In a letter sent Friday, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a national First Amendment advocacy organization known for its support of conservatives on college campuses, argued LSU had violated the constitutional rights of Marcus Venable, a grad assistant in LSU’s sociology department. He left a phone message for Sen. Mike Fesi, R-Houma, after Fesi gave a speech Tuesday in support of a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth.

Click here for link to full article

Leave a comment


Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

The Rise of Civics Centers at America’s Universities
The Rise of Civics Centers at America’s Universities

December 18, 2025 4 min read

There is a growth sector in American higher education. The number of “Civics Centers” has exploded in the last decade, and especially since 2021. 

What are these civics centers, and what explains their proliferation now? 

Heterodox Academy (HxA), the leading non-partisan higher education reform organization in the US for faculty, staff and students, championing open inquiry, viewpoint diversity and constructive disagreement, has decided to provide some answers.

Read More
Demagogy or Pedagogy? A Better Way to Approach Antisemitism on Campus
Demagogy or Pedagogy? A Better Way to Approach Antisemitism on Campus

December 18, 2025 1 min read

In February of this year, a few colleagues and I co-founded a group called Concerned Jewish Faculty & Staff (CJFS), which now has more than 200 members on more than two dozen campuses. Our group, which is predominantly made up of academics at Massachusetts colleges and universities but includes members from across New England, is one of several such efforts nationwide that have coalesced into a new National Campus Jewish Alliance. 

We recognize that Jewish safety is inseparable from the safety of all people, and we work to foster academic environments that reduce antisemitism by treating educators as partners, not as suspects.

Read More
Snapshots of Censorship: ‘It’s Only 3 or 4 Words’
Snapshots of Censorship: ‘It’s Only 3 or 4 Words’

December 18, 2025 1 min read

Read More