National Free Speech News & Commentary

Commentary: A Tennessee teacher planned a Mother’s Day class. Then came the MAGA rage

By Greg Sargent May 09, 2023 1 min read

By Greg Sargent
The Washington Post

Excerpt: By now, it’s well understood that the right’s efforts to restrict classroom discussion are all about marginalizing LGBTQ people under the guise of protecting children. But they also harbor a less obvious aim: to convince parents that kids are under threat in the first place. That mild-mannered teacher over there? She just might be scheming to pervert, indoctrinate and snatch away childhood innocence.
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ACLU Executive Director speaks at second recent event on progressive free speech

ACLU Executive Director speaks at second recent event on progressive free speech

by Olivia Sanchez, Daily Princetonian  May 08, 2023 1 min read

by Olivia Sanchez, Daily Princetonian 

Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Anthony Romero ’87 discussed the importance of the First Amendment at the final Princeton Progressive Law Society (PPLS) event of the 2022-23 academic year.

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Statehouses’ Targeting of Diversity and Tenure Is Starting to Scare Away Faculty Job Candidates

Statehouses’ Targeting of Diversity and Tenure Is Starting to Scare Away Faculty Job Candidates

by  Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education May 05, 2023 1 min read

by  Megan Zahneis, Chronicle of Higher Education

Recently proposed and passed legislation that targets tenure and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts is having a chilling effect on the recruitment of faculty members and administrators in Florida and Texas, where some of the highest profile laws and bills of that type have been undertaken.

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Commentary: Presidents Are Changing Their Tune on Free Speech

Commentary: Presidents Are Changing Their Tune on Free Speech

by David Jesse,  Chronicle of Higher Education  May 03, 2023 1 min read

by David Jesse,  Chronicle of Higher Education 

The tales are swapped in conference-hotel hallways or over quiet dinners: controversial speakers attracting rowdy protests, professors drawing fire for an offhand comment during a lecture and then posted online, legislators trying to codify what can and can’t be taught in classrooms.

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Commentary: The Coddling of the Cornellian Mind

Commentary: The Coddling of the Cornellian Mind

by Richard Kelly, Cornell Review Trigger warnings were proposed as a means to protect students with PTSD. Not only do they fail to do that, but they undermine the resilience of all Cornellians and risk encouraging cognitive distortions commonly observed in mentally ill patients. May 03, 2023 1 min read

by Richard Kelly, Cornell Review

Trigger warnings were proposed as a means to protect students with PTSD. Not only do they fail to do that, but they undermine the resilience of all Cornellians and risk encouraging cognitive distortions commonly observed in mentally ill patients.

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Texas guts ‘woke civics’. Now kids can’t engage in a key democratic process

Texas guts ‘woke civics’. Now kids can’t engage in a key democratic process

by Asher Lehrer-Small, The Guardian Since Texas lawmakers in 2021 passed a ban on lessons teaching that any one group is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive”, a little-noticed provision of that legislation has triggered a massive fallout for civics education across the state. May 01, 2023 1 min read

by Asher Lehrer-Small, The Guardian

Since Texas lawmakers in 2021 passed a ban on lessons teaching that any one group is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive”, a little-noticed provision of that legislation has triggered a massive fallout for civics education across the state.

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