Supporting Students Free Expression

Eileen Boris
Academe Blog

Excerpt: In yet another assault on academic freedom, civil liberties, and peaceful protest, Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, associate professor of global studies at the University of California, Irvine, is facing three misdemeanor charges for her effort to protect students when an excessive force of armed riot police (from twenty-one different units) assaulted the UCI Palestine solidarity encampment on May 15, 2024.

For her compassion and concern, this prize-winning mentor and teacher received charges of “failure to disperse at the scene of a riot,” “resisting a peace officer with the threat of violence,” and “resisting arrest.” Others arrested are facing the first two charges but only Willoughby-Herard faces threatening an officer in the process, a clear discrimination.

Hannah Hutchins
Minding the Campus

Excerpt: As a medical practitioner applying for a faculty position at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Chan Medical School, it is no longer satisfactory to demonstrate a curriculum vitae of excellent merits in research and medical practice. One must also be actively involved in promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) to a level that penalizes individuals who do not meet the strict levels of DEI engagement.

Steven McGuire and Michael B. Poliakoff
Tablet Magazine

Excerpt: Censorship is ugly behavior, whether it comes from the right or the left. Fortunately, it is most often self-defeating, but it is a warning sign of deeper pathology. So we see in the matter of philosopher, filmmaker, and humanitarian Bernard-Henri Lévy’s new book, Israel Alone.

Jonathan Turley
Jonathan Turley's Blog

Excerpt: Below is my column in the New York Post on the prestigious award given to Stanford Professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya last week and what it has to say about those who censored, blacklisted, and vilified him for the last four years. In celebrating his fight for “intellectual freedom,” the National Academy effectively condemned those who joined the mob against him as well as the many professors who stayed silent as he and others were targeted.

Sophia Wotman and Sam Levine
The Brown Daily Herald

Excerpt: The University temporarily suspended Brown’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine pending an external investigation into conduct violations at a pro-divestment protest held earlier this month.

“Given the severity of alleged threatening, intimidating and harassing actions during an event on campus, Brown University has initiated a review of the event and required the Brown chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to cease all organization activities pending full review of the matter,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark told The Herald.

Michael S. Roth
Slate Magazine

Excerpt: It is urgent that the leaders of colleges and universities stand up in defense of their interests and the values of higher education. American schools have long trumpeted their contribution to promoting an educated citizenry. Now, as one of the most consequential elections in American history approaches, we must do everything we can to help students work on campaigns and facilitate voting. And we must call out the threats to higher education.

This may seem straightforward, but in the wake of Oct. 7 and controversies over statements (or the lack of statements) concerning the atrocities, many academic leaders have embraced a doctrine of “institutional neutrality.” This is exactly the wrong time for such a retreat.