Trustee Responsibility Free Speech

Elwood Watson
Daily Freeman

Excerpt: Those of us who work in academia understand that academic freedom represents the cornerstone of successful colleges and universities. It epitomizes the right of freedom to teach, discuss, engage in research and freely publish your findings. It also means the ability to dictate one’s own teaching and scholarship agenda, the security of academic positions and shared governance to ensure independence.

Despite such facts, the mission of academic freedom is under severe attack from varied quarters, resulting in ominous and potentially dangerous threats for both students and professors.

Collin Binkley, Jocelyn Gecker and Emily Swanson
Associated Press

Excerpt: Americans view college campuses as far friendlier to liberals than to conservatives when it comes to free speech, with adults across the political spectrum seeing less tolerance for those on the right, according to a new poll.

Overall, 47% of adults say liberals have “a lot” of freedom to express their views on college campuses, while just 20% said the same of conservatives, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression.

David Deming
Forked Lightning, Substack

Excerpt: A few weeks ago, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) released their annual College Free Speech rankings. Harvard ranked 248th out of the 248 schools that were ranked. Not only did Harvard rank last, but FIRE singled us out for special scorn.

My first instinct – and maybe yours – was to think they cooked the books to generate a headline-worthy result. So, naturally, I burrowed into the survey methodology like the good social scientist that I am. My conclusion was that we have a serious problem with free expression on Harvard’s campus. It’s not quite six sigma bad, because the point values for speech sanctions are somewhat arbitrary and there are sample selection issues with the FIRE database (everything gets more attention when it happens at Harvard, and some of the cases they document weren’t speech issues at all). Still, the student survey results are deeply discouraging.

Stephanie Lundquist Arora
Washington Examiner

Excerpt: Fairfax County’s school district updated its code of conduct this year to include a “required culturally responsive, learning intervention” for students with first-time “hate speech” infractions. In Fairfax County, hate speech is defined in the broadest sense possible to include “misgendering.”

Fairfax County Public Schools has a history of compelling speech, arguably violating the First Amendment. In the last year, the 12 Democrat-endorsed school board members have made “ misgendering ” and “deadnaming” offenses punishable with suspensions for students as young as 5. It has also implemented a bias incident reporting system , which restricts free speech and is being challenged in courts nationwide

University of Chicago News

Excerpt: At a time when many state governments are enacting or considering restrictions on what can be taught at public universities, a new survey developed by AP-NORC and the University of Chicago shows that large majorities of Americans oppose such restrictions and support many essential aspects of academic freedom in universities.

Jeanne Gilbert
UNF Spinnaker (University of North Florida’s Student Newspaper)

Excerpt: Earlier this year, the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill requiring all Florida state universities to establish an Office of Public Policy Events and host at least four debates or group forums each year. Marking its inaugural event, UNF’s Office of Public Policy Events hosted a forum between faculty representing opposing sides of arguments on free speech and affirmative action.

The law stems from a larger push by the state for unfettered free speech at Florida public colleges and universities, with it stating, “Such debates and group forums must include speakers who represent widely held views on opposing sides of the most widely discussed public policy issues of the day.”