National Free Speech News & Commentary

John K. Wilson
Academe Blog

Excerpt: The temptation to regulate free speech in the name of a higher good is a constant danger on the left, and the right. Too often, we ignore how centrist administrators and thinkers endorse censorship too easily, and how much power they hold. I think the greatest threats to campus free speech today come from right-wing legislators and wealthy donors seeking to suppress dissent and anxious administrators willing to silence controversial figures on the left or the right. But even well-intentioned arguments by leftists, conservatives, and centrists alike in defense of censorship help weaken the defense of free expression at a time when we need to make it stronger.

Joseph De Avila
Wall Street Journal

Excerpt: Amy Wax, the Ivy League law professor suspended for making racist, sexist and inflammatory comments, stands to lose half a million dollars from her punishment.

Wax said she doesn’t regret the remarks that led to her reprimand. She is considering taking legal action, she said.

Greg Lukianoff
The Eternally Radical Idea

Excerpt: Well, folks, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that The Coddling of the American Mind Movie
will be available on AppleTV, Google Play, and other streaming platforms beginning today!

The first bit of bad news (yeah, sorry, there’s more than just one thing) is that Cancel Culture has worsened in the last year since the release of “Canceling.” As Rikki and I detail in the book, Cancel Culture is the measurable uptick, beginning around 2014 and ramping up in 2017, of campaigns to get people fired, expelled, deplatformed, or otherwise punished for speech that is — or would be — protected by the First Amendment.

Robby Soave
Reason Magazine

Excerpt: While other educational institutions pulled back on their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the University of Michigan doubled down, spending nearly $250 million since 2016 on employees and programming that fill this ever-expanding niche.

The verdict? Spending hundreds of millions of dollars, and countless hours, specifically designing plans to make the campus more equitable, diverse, tolerant, and affirming of minority students…backfired utterly.

Eugene Volokh
Reason Magazine

Excerpt: Should be a very interesting program; registration is free, and you can attend virtually. The event is put on by Vanderbilt's The Future of Free Speech program, which is in turn led by free speech scholar and historian Jacob Mchangama.

Speakers will include novelist Salman Rushdie (attending virtually), Iranian journalist and women's rights activist Masih Alinejad, Taiwan's first digital minister Audrey Tang, Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub, former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, New York Times columnist David French, The Economist senior editor James Bennett, and PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel, and many more.

Johanna Alonso
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Pro-Palestinian protest activity has declined on college campuses this semester, at least compared to the tumultuous events of last spring.

But several of the demonstrations that resulted in student sanctions this fall have taken place at university career fairs, where activists gathered to protest weapons manufacturers and other companies with ties to the Israeli government or military. Many are the same companies that pro-Palestinian student protesters have demanded their universities divest from over the past year, albeit with little success.