Prepare Now for an Election Firestorm

Matthew Kuchem July 15, 2024 1 min read

Matthew Kuchem
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: As the U.S. presidential campaign takes a violent turn, colleges and universities need to prepare for major political upheaval and campus disruptions. Last academic year’s campus protests demonstrated that much of higher education is ill-equipped to handle certain political controversies.

But the fall will not just be a redux of the spring. When students return to campuses, the wild presidential campaign will be entering the final stretch, setting the stage for disruptions that will accelerate through the end of the semester and possibly beyond. The forecast is grim, and the conditions are ripe, not for a flare-up but for an inferno.

Click here for link to full article

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.


Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

The Humanities in Crisis? A Discussion on the “State of Scholarship in the Humanities” Report
The Humanities in Crisis? A Discussion on the “State of Scholarship in the Humanities” Report

John Tomasi  June 25, 2026 1 min read

A new report commissioned by the chancellors of Vanderbilt and Washington University, Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences, brought together senior scholars to assess the state of scholarship in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.    

In this webinar, recorded on June 11th, HxA President John Tomasi joins report co-author Ashley Rubin (University of Hawai'i at Mānoa) and Regina Rini (York University) to critically discuss the report’s conclusions, where it leaves work undone, and what a genuine path toward healthier scholarly norms might look like.

Read More
Law professors say they support free speech. Many are afraid to practice it.
Law professors say they support free speech. Many are afraid to practice it.

Nate Honeycutt June 25, 2026 1 min read

For a report released this week, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) surveyed 1,959 law faculty at 192 ABA-approved law schools. The findings reveal a profession caught in a contradiction: law professors overwhelmingly endorse free expression in principle, yet many describe an academic culture that discourages them from practicing it.

Read More
Prof. Fired for Palestinian Activism Should Be Reinstated, Arbitrator Says
Prof. Fired for Palestinian Activism Should Be Reinstated, Arbitrator Says

Emma Whitford June 24, 2026 1 min read

An arbitrator ruled that Sang Hea Kil, a tenured San José State University professor who was fired in 2025 after participating in pro-Palestinian student protests, should be reinstated, the California Faculty Association announced Monday. 

The arbitrator deemed Kil’s termination to be an “excessive” punishment and said it should be reduced to a one-month unpaid suspension, according to the news release. Kil was the first tenured full professor to be fired for pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Read More