National Free Speech News & Commentary

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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Commentary: The Indoctrination of the American Mind

June 22, 2023 1 min read

By Eric Kaufmann
The Free Press

Excerpt: If you read The Free Press, you know that over the last decade, an illiberal ideology that goes by various names—Critical Race Theory; Critical Social Justice—has transformed key institutions of American life. It is remaking the law, Hollywood, medicine, higher education, psychology, and more.
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The professor is canceled. Now What?

June 21, 2023 1 min read

By Jack Stripling
The Washington Post

Excerpt: On a Thursday morning in February, Charles Negy stood before a group of about 40 students, presiding over his theories-of-personality class at the University of Central Florida. Scattered across a large auditorium, students jotted notes as Negy, a 62-year-old associate professor of psychology, spoke about Sigmund Freud. Projection, Negy explained, is when “we see in others what we don’t want to see in ourselves.” It’s like calling someone else a racist, Negy continued, when, in truth, “everybody is a little bit racist.”
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Commentary: Chicago Lives Up to the Principles

June 21, 2023 1 min read

By Benjamin Ogilvie
Wall Street Journal

Excerpt: It’s been a great week for social-media engagement at the University of Chicago Law School. On June 14, the school posted on LinkedIn to share my recent contribution to the Journal’s Future View discussing the Bud Light and Target boycotts. That post received 36 ugly comments from 23 alumni and students, along with more than 500 likes and reactions. The school also received an open letter of denunciation from 22 law-student organizations.
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Commentary: Colleges Should Compete on Free Speech

June 20, 2023 1 min read

The lists of “top colleges” have varied little in many years. They always include the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, Cal Tech, etc. But that could change. Colleges of all types can differentiate themselves on the core values of free speech and academic freedom, and those that do will increasingly attract more and better students, faculty, and employment opportunities for their graduates.

However, most of these “prestige” schools have low ratings in the annual survey of students on free speech issues conducted by the Foundation for Rights and Expression (FIRE). Many have had recent embarrassments that rightfully tarnished their image on free speech. And many have atmospheres that smack of indoctrination and huge bureaucracies to enforce those atmospheres.

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