UCLA lacks intellectual tolerance, but these alumni are banding together to fix it

April 26, 2023 1 min read

UCLA lacks intellectual tolerance, but these alumni are banding together to fix it

by Jessica Wills, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

During his years in the University of California system at both Berkeley and Los Angeles, Dominic Manser was disturbed by the student body’s penchant for disruptive conduct.  That’s why he teamed up with fellow UCLA alumnus Jerry Mosley to found Bruin Alumni in Defense of Free Speech.

The Bruin Alumni intend to petition UCLA to adopt the Chicago Statement, which protects free expression for students, faculty, and staff. Additionally, they hope to institute free expression training for incoming students to encourage rigorous dialogue and reduce the fear students experience when discussing their beliefs.


Leave a comment


Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

Differentiating Colleges and Universities In A Tax On Endowment Income

April 02, 2025 10 min read

by Ed Yingling '70

Washington insiders believe it is very likely that a significant increase in the tax rate on university endowment income will be enacted this year. They cite the need for additional tax revenue to offset the Trump tax cut agenda and the antipathy of many Republicans to what has been happening on campuses for the last two years. They also focus on the fact that then-Senator JD Vance introduced a bill in the last Congress imposing a 35 percent tax on endowment income.

Read More
Commentary: I’m Cornell’s President. We’re Not Afraid of Debate and Dissent.

March 31, 2025 1 min read

Michael I. Kotlikoff
New York Times

Excerpt: Cornell University recently hosted an event that any reputable P.R. firm would surely have advised against. On a calm campus, in a semester unroiled by protest, we chose to risk stirring the waters by organizing a panel discussion that brought together Israeli and Palestinian voices with an in-person audience open to all.

The week before, I extended a personal invitation to our student community, explaining that open inquiry “is the antidote to corrosive narratives” and is what enables us “to see and respect other views, work together across differences and conceive of solutions to intractable problems.”

Read More
Commentary: The End of College Life

March 30, 2025 1 min read

Ian Bogost
The Atlantic

Excerpt: The start of spring semester is a hopeful time on college campuses. Students fill the quads and walkways, wearing salmon shorts or strappy tank tops. Music plays; Frisbees fly. As a career academic, I have been a party to this catalog-cover scene for more than 30 years running. It looks made-up, but it is real. Every year in the United States, almost 20 million people go to college, representing every race, ethnicity, and social class. This is college in America—or it has been for a long time.

But college life as we know it may soon come to an end.

Read More