National Free Speech News & Commentary

University of Arkansas rescinds dean offer after lawmakers object to legal advocacy in trans athletes Supreme Court case

University of Arkansas rescinds dean offer after lawmakers object to legal advocacy in trans athletes Supreme Court case

FIRE January 20, 2026 1 min read

The University of Arkansas’ shameful capitulation to political pressure betrays its commitment to Professor Suski and threatens the rights of all who teach, study, and work there. The message to every dean, professor, and researcher is unmistakable: Your job hinges on whether politicians approve of your views. 

Political interference in academic decision making must be rejected. When universities make hiring decisions based on politics, left or right, academic freedom gets weaker and campuses grow quieter.

Read More
Court ruling jeopardizes freedom for pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil

Court ruling jeopardizes freedom for pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil

Jake Offenhartz and Michael R. Sisak January 20, 2026 1 min read

A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional. But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.

Read More

Yale Achieves Academic Nirvana: Study Cannot Find A Single Republican Donor on the Faculty

Yale Achieves Academic Nirvana: Study Cannot Find A Single Republican Donor on the Faculty

Jonathan Turley January 15, 2026 1 min read

Yale University has finally achieved the academic version of Nirvana, a state of perfect peace and enlightenment. A recent study found that the faculty had finally purged every Republican donor from its ranks. While 98 percent of the political donations went to Democrats, not a single professor could be found who gave to a single Republican candidate. The complete lock for Democrats is in a country that is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats.

The Yale Daily News reviewed more than 7,000 Federal Election Commission filings from 2025 listing Yale as the employer: “Of 1,099 filings that included ‘professor’ in their occupation, 97.6 percent of the donations went to Democrats, while the remaining 2.4 percent went to independent candidates or groups,” the student newspaper reported Jan. 14.”

The study reinforces the recent Buckley Institute report, which found that, of the 43 departments surveyed, 27 entire departments contained zero Republican professors.

Read More
Penn-affiliated groups motion to intervene as defendants in federal antisemitism lawsuit

Penn-affiliated groups motion to intervene as defendants in federal antisemitism lawsuit

Lavanya Mani  January 15, 2026 1 min read

Multiple Penn-affiliated groups filed a motion on Tuesday to intervene as defendants in an ongoing lawsuit filed against the University by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

The lawsuit followed a July 2025 subpoena from the EEOC that required Penn to submit detailed information on workplace antisemitism complaints and membership lists for various Jewish-related campus groups. In November, the agency sued the University for allegedly failing to comply.

Read More

Expanding the Web of Control

Expanding the Web of Control

Amy Reid, Jonathan Friedman, Laura Benitez, Jeffrey Adam Sachs  January 15, 2026 1 min read

More than half of U.S. college and university students now study in a state with at least one law or policy restricting what can be taught or how campuses can operate.

There is no use in sugarcoating things. For higher education in America, 2025 was a year of catastrophe. Across nearly every conceivable front – from state capitals to Capitol Hill and even on social media – America’s politicians have been a full-scale campaign against colleges and universities, with a concerted focus on speech. The toll is immense. Fear among faculty, students, and administrators is widespread. Self-censorship in teaching and research is rampant.

Read More
A Texas A&M professor pushed back in a course review. His class was cancelled.

A Texas A&M professor pushed back in a course review. His class was cancelled.

Samantha Ketterer January 15, 2026 1 min read

A Texas A&M University dean canceled an "Ethics in Public Policy" graduate course three days into the spring semester, saying the professor refused to submit information needed to be exempt from a new ban on teaching gender and race ideology.

The dean specifically named professor Leonard Bright in a Wednesday email to his colleagues at the Texas A&M Bush School of Government and Public Service and used the course cancellation as a warning about following university processes. But Bright and other faculty advocates say they lack clarity about the rules for the ongoing course review and that administrators are using that ambiguity to their advantage.

Read More


Previous 1 22 23 24 25 26 235 Next