December 20, 2024
1 min read
Jonathan Chait
The Atlantic
Excerpt: A decade ago, cultural norms in elite American institutions took a sharply illiberal turn. Professors would get disciplined, journalists fired, ordinary people harassed by social-media mobs, over some decontextualized phrase or weaponized misunderstanding. Every so often, I would write about these events or the debates that they set off.
But I haven’t written about this phenomenon in a long time, and I recently realized why: because it isn’t happening any more. Left-wing outrage mobs might still form here or there, but liberal America has built up enough antibodies that they no longer have much effect. My old articles now feel like dispatches from a distant era.
Read More December 19, 2024
1 min read
Johanna Alonso
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: After an unprecedented spring of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses across the United States, the fall semester has been comparatively quiet. The total number of protest actions declined by more than 64 percent, from 3,220 to 1,151, according to data from the Crowd Counting Consortium, a project by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the University of Connecticut that collects data on protests.
Read More December 19, 2024
1 min read
Ryan Quinn
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: The firing of a University of Michigan official has raised questions about who was involved in the decision as well as why exactly the diversity, equity and inclusion leader was shown the door.
Many media outlets reported within the past few days that the university fired Rachel Dawson, who led the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, after she allegedly made antisemitic comments at a conference in March. University officials initially declined to fire Dawson but reversed course after facing pressure from at least one member of the Board of Regents, The New York Times reported.
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Jane Johnson
December 08, 2023
The comments from various representatives of the higher ed industry provide useful insights to their reactions. Some sound defensive of the three university presidents whose responses to congressional questioning are less than satisfying, but it is surely too early to predict where this episode will take us. No one really knows for sure where the dividing line is between free speech and hate speech. So right now it looks as if there may be backlash to the recent clamoring for free speech and more teeth-gnashing over hate speech. Where the middle ground may ultimately fall is anyone’s guess at this time. The 1st Amendment is a vital part of our Constitution, and it’s being severely tested at this point in our history.