Q&A: University President Michael Schill discusses free speech policies, campus climate, admissions diversity

October 14, 2024 1 min read

Jacob Wendler, Lily Ogburn, William Tong, and Jerry Wu
Daily Northwestern

Excerpt: For the first time since student protests erupted on campus calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and University divestment from Israel during Spring Quarter, Northwestern President Michael Schill sat down with The Daily for a wide-ranging interview. He reflected on his handling of April’s encampment on Deering Meadow and discussed the University’s path forward.

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Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

The Question All Colleges Should Ask Themselves About AI

September 11, 2025 1 min read

Tyler Austin Harper 
The Atlantic 

Excerpt: Since the release of ChatGPT, in 2022, colleges and universities have been engaged in an experiment to discover whether artificially intelligent chatbots and the liberal-arts tradition can coexist. Notwithstanding a few exceptions, by now the answer is clear: They cannot. AI-enabled cheating is pretty much everywhere. As a May New York magazine essay put it, “students at large state schools, the Ivies, liberal-arts schools in New England, universities abroad, professional schools, and community colleges are relying on AI to ease their way through every facet of their education.”

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Commentary: AAUP Should Rethink Stance on Israel, Antisemitism

September 11, 2025 1 min read

Miriam Elman and Mark G. Yudof
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: In sports competitions, someone has to draft the rules and make critical judgments about their enforcement. Was the runner out or safe at home? Did a defensive player trip the dribbling guard? Should the tush push be banned? So too for the professions: lawyers, physicians, accountants and others. In higher education, the American Association of University Professors for many decades has been the gold standard for impartiality. No more.

In a recent disturbing interview published in Inside Higher Ed, the AAUP’s president, Todd Wolfson, made it unmistakably clear where the organization stands at a time when antisemitism on college campuses is spiking—against both students and Jewish faculty, whom the AAUP purports to represent.

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FIRE statement on the shooting of Charlie Kirk

September 10, 2025 1 min read

Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression

Excerpt: Charlie Kirk was shot during an event at Utah Valley University today. Details of the incident are still unfolding.

Political violence is never an acceptable response to speech. Free speech allows us to settle our differences peacefully and is essential to a free and democratic society.

Our thoughts are with Charlie Kirk and his family.

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