Institutional Governance & Accountability

Greg Lukianoff
The Eternally Radical Idea

Excerpt: Well, folks, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that The Coddling of the American Mind Movie
will be available on AppleTV, Google Play, and other streaming platforms beginning today!

The first bit of bad news (yeah, sorry, there’s more than just one thing) is that Cancel Culture has worsened in the last year since the release of “Canceling.” As Rikki and I detail in the book, Cancel Culture is the measurable uptick, beginning around 2014 and ramping up in 2017, of campaigns to get people fired, expelled, deplatformed, or otherwise punished for speech that is — or would be — protected by the First Amendment.

Eugene Volokh
Reason Magazine

Excerpt: Should be a very interesting program; registration is free, and you can attend virtually. The event is put on by Vanderbilt's The Future of Free Speech program, which is in turn led by free speech scholar and historian Jacob Mchangama.

Speakers will include novelist Salman Rushdie (attending virtually), Iranian journalist and women's rights activist Masih Alinejad, Taiwan's first digital minister Audrey Tang, Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub, former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, New York Times columnist David French, The Economist senior editor James Bennett, and PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel, and many more.

Johanna Alonso
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Pro-Palestinian protest activity has declined on college campuses this semester, at least compared to the tumultuous events of last spring.

But several of the demonstrations that resulted in student sanctions this fall have taken place at university career fairs, where activists gathered to protest weapons manufacturers and other companies with ties to the Israeli government or military. Many are the same companies that pro-Palestinian student protesters have demanded their universities divest from over the past year, albeit with little success.

Robert Shibley
FIRE

Excerpt: This week, the American Association of University Professors gave its blessing to mandatory “diversity statements” in hiring — as long as the faculty votes for them first. FIRE has long argued that such statements can too easily function as ideological litmus tests and has repeatedly warned against them.

The AAUP’s new statement on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Criteria for Faculty Evaluation” marks yet another departure from the organization’s roots as a stalwart protector of faculty members’ right to dissent from the orthodoxies of the day, whatever those might be.

Eboo Patel
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Bravo to the University of Chicago for its $100 million gift in support of free speech. The donation, which comes from an anonymous source, will strengthen the university’s Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, allowing it to expand quintessential college programs like fellowships and conferences.

You can of course say that these efforts ultimately benefit truth seeking, and I do believe that involving people with a range of identities in philosophical discussions or laboratory experiments results in stronger ideas emerging. But there are other social goals being accomplished as well, including cooperation across difference and social mobility. Why not name a telos that captures all of this?

Kali Jerrard
National Association of Scholars

Excerpt: Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of Hamas’ invasion of Israel and in the course of the past year, world politics and higher education have irrevocably changed.

While campus protests began anew this semester and pro-Israel professors face cancelation there is a small glimmer of hope. This past year has refocused the efforts of policymakers to right the ship. Moreover, we have seen what can happen when college administrators show real courage and stand up to the mob. Such examples should be reproduced elsewhere. Our colleges and universities may, after all, find a path back to the principles that once made them world class. Here’s hoping.