National Free Speech News & Commentary

Evan Mandery
Politico

Excerpt: [Greg] Lukianoff’s philosophy — civil libertarianism — is arguably the very core of the American project. And yet it now faces intense threats from the left and the right, which Lukianoff chronicles in a new book on cancel culture. The book also offers some prescriptions, a new approach to politics and culture that could help bridge our poisonous divide, if given the chance.

Lukianoff doesn’t have all the answers, but as he recounted his own struggles with severe depression, it’s clear that his approach is a healing one. Whether Americans are willing to listen — and whether civil libertarianism can survive — is far less certain.

John Aubrey Douglass
Academe Blog

Excerpt: There is much to worry about as we approach 2024: attacks on academic freedom, on free speech, on open societies, and attempts to degrade democracy, and not just here in the United States. As I discuss in my article “Here and Abroad, Universities Face an Autocratic Playbook” in the recent issue of Academe, there are stories in almost all the corners of the world concerning the importance of academic freedom and the general concept of universities as unique and valuable autonomous or semi-autonomous institutions under attack.

The war in Ukraine, systematic suppression of faculty and student voices in Russia, jailing of the same in China and Turkey, restraints on academic freedom in Hungary and elsewhere, and now the horrific events in Israel and Gaza—all bring home the reality that academics must navigate through the political and harsh realities of the world.

Susan H. Greenburg
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Seven former presidents of public institutions in Florida published in an op-ed in The Tampa Bay Times Wednesday criticizing the legislative steps the state has taken to reshape higher education by dictating what faculty can teach, curtailing the power of accrediting bodies and banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“These measures erode academic freedom, prohibit instructors from accurately conveying history to their students and, ultimately, limit students’ access to the full range of information and ideas they need to become engaged citizens,” they wrote.

Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi, Andrew Lowenthal, and Leighton Woodhouse
Public, Substack

Excerpt: In March of this year, two of us, Matt and Michael, testified to Congress about the existence of a Censorship Industrial Complex comprised of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and Big Tech companies working together to suppress disfavored views and disfavored people.

Now, a group of 138 scholars, public intellectuals, and journalists from across the political spectrum have issued a strong call warning the public of the Censorship Industrial Complex and urging governments to dismantle it in the name of the “first liberty,” freedom of speech. It’s called The Westminster Declaration.

Lauren Noble
National Review

Excerpt: Even at Yale, it is not every day that a faculty member expresses “solidarity” — and apparent glee — over the murder, rape, and kidnapping of civilians. So it did not go unnoticed when, as Israel was reeling from the deadliest terror attack in its history, associate professor Zareena Grewal proclaimed on X that “Palestinians have every right to resist through armed struggle” against a “genocidal settler state.” She also circulated a video of the onslaught captioned, “It’s been such an extraordinary day!”

Over 50,000 people subsequently signed a petition calling on Yale to fire Grewal for her support of terrorism. The university responded quickly, declining to discipline Grewal based on its commitment to freedom of speech. Anyone who has followed headlines about Yale over the past decade may be understandably surprised to learn that the university has such principles.

Heather Perlberg, Janet Lorin and Bloomberg
Fortune

Excerpt: First it was Apollo Global Management’s Marc Rowan blasting the University of Pennsylvania, then Dick Wolf of Law & Order followed by former US diplomat and businessman Jon Huntsman and billionaire Ronald Lauder.

Now it’s David Magerman, who helped build the trading systems of Renaissance Technologies. He castigated Penn’s “misguided moral compass” in a letter to President Elizabeth Magill and board chair Scott Bok, citing the school’s hosting of the Palestine Writes Literature Festival last month and its response to the Hamas attack on Israel in October.