National Free Speech News & Commentary

This Professor Criticized Diversity Statements. Did It Cost Him a Job Offer?

June 28, 2023 1 min read

By Megan Zahneis
Chronicle of Higher Education

 

Excerpt: A psychologist spoke out this week about what critics see as a job offer gone awry over an ideological spat about diversity statements.

Yoel Inbar, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, was up for a job at the University of California at Los Angeles. But the psychology department there decided not to proceed after more than 60 graduate students in the department signed an open letter urging the university not to hire him. At issue, the students wrote, were Inbar’s comments on his podcast expressing skepticism about the use of diversity statements in hiring, as well as about other efforts intended to make the academy more inclusive.

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‘Preaching’ in Biology Class?

June 28, 2023 1 min read

By Ryan Quinn
Inside Higher Ed

 

Excerpt: An adjunct professor who is also an associate pastor says a Texas community college fired him after it claimed to have received complaints of “religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric and misogynistic banter.”

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What makes a social studies textbook "woke" in Ron DeSantis' Florida

June 26, 2023 1 min read

Judd Legum
Popular Information

Excerpt: According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), textbook publishers are attempting to indoctrinate Florida students by incorporating "woke" concepts into social studies textbooks — in violation of state laws prohibiting certain kinds of instruction on race and gender.

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Firing of Georgia Teacher for Reading a Book that Promotes Inclusivity is “Shocking” and “Harmful,” Says PEN America

June 23, 2023 1 min read

PEN America Press Release

Excerpt: A Georgia elementary school teacher has been fired after allegedly violating the state’s educational gag order. Passed in 2022, Georgia’s HB 1084 prohibits teachers from “espousing”  certain “divisive concepts” related to race and sex. Katie Rinderle says she read her fifth grade students “My Shadow Is Purple,” by bestselling author-illustrator Scott Stuart, a 2022 book that promotes inclusivity, after purchasing it at the school book fair and having her students vote on what they wanted to read.

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Texas Tech Cancels Witchcraft Class Following Backlash

June 22, 2023 1 min read

By Brandon Waltens
Texas Scorecard

Excerpt: After public backlash, Texas Tech University has walked back plans to offer a class on ”Witches, Bruxas, & Black Magic” this fall. As reported by Texas Scorecard earlier this week, the course was described as introducing the “study of beliefs and practices, past and present, associated with magic, witchcraft, spirituality, magic realism, and religion.”
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University at Buffalo Clubs Caught in Free Speech Crossfire

June 22, 2023 1 min read

Johanna Alonso
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: When Suha Chowdhury started a chapter of the humanitarian aid organization Islamic Relief at the University at Buffalo, she envisioned joining with her peers to fundraise for global causes and help Buffalo-area nonprofits—all with the support of her university.

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