National Free Speech News & Commentary

Commentary: How Chris Rufo Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Cancel Culture

Cathy Young August 25, 2025 1 min read

Cathy Young
The Bulwark

Excerpt: Last week's right-wing freakout over the Cracker Barrel logo redesign—apparently amounting to white-guy erasure—had more than its share of sublimely ridiculous moments. But none, perhaps, were more emblematic of the current “anti-woke” crusade than the call to action from author, activist, and Manhattan Institute fellow Chris Rufo.

Of course, what also makes it noteworthy is that Rufo isn’t just some random social-media blowhard. In recent months, he has emerged as the unofficial ideologue of the Trumpian assault on the liberal cultural establishment.

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Harvard Grad Union Requests Academic Freedom Protections in New Contract Proposal

Amann S. Mahajan August 24, 2025 1 min read

Amann S. Mahajan
Harvard Crimson 

Excerpt: Harvard’s graduate student union requested that the University guarantee academic freedom protections for graduate students’ teaching and research pursuits in a new contract proposal on Thursday, joining a growing roster of graduate unions that have requested similar provisions in recent years.

The proposal, presented during a bargaining session with University negotiators, would establish a definition of academic freedom for graduate students in their work as teaching and research assistants. It would also nod toward broader free speech protections, codifying student workers’ right to “express themselves peacefully as members of society or as representatives of their fields of instruction, study, or research.”

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A Critic of Universities Is Rallying to Defend Them in the Trump Era

Jennifer Schuessler and Vimal Patel August 22, 2025 1 min read

Jennifer Schuessler and Vimal Patel
New York Times

Excerpt: The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, an increasingly prominent free-speech organization, has long been known as a fierce opponent of campus political correctness. Since its founding in 1999, it has been celebrated for defending conservatives and other dissidents from the prevailing liberal culture at America’s universities.

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A Critic of Universities Is Rallying to Defend Them in the Trump Era

Jennifer Schuessler and Vimal Patel August 22, 2025 1 min read

Jennifer Schuessler and Vimal Patel
New York Times

Excerpt: The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, an increasingly prominent free-speech organization, has long been known as a fierce opponent of campus political correctness. Since its founding in 1999, it has been celebrated for defending conservatives and other dissidents from the prevailing liberal culture at America’s universities.

The group, long a scourge of university administrators, also finds itself working to help protect schools it has criticized in the past from new threats. When FIRE filed a brief in support of Harvard’s lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s cuts in research funds, the group noted its own record as “a leading critic of Harvard’s inconsistent and insufficient protection of free speech and academic freedom.”

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Harvard To Remove Black Lives Matter Message From Biology Professors’ Office Windows

William C. Mao and Veronica H. Paulus August 21, 2025 1 min read

William C. Mao and Veronica H. Paulus
Harvard Crimson 

Excerpt: A Harvard administrator told two professors on Tuesday that a Black Lives Matter sign displayed in their office windows would be taken down by this Saturday, describing it as a violation of University-wide rules on using campus space.

Bence P. Ölveczky and Mansi Srivastava, professors of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, posted large block letters in their windows spelling out “Black Lives Matter” in 2020 as protests broke out nationwide over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Since then, the letters have faced out from the Northwest Science Building, where their labs are located.

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Commentary: Business Schools Are Embracing Left-Wing Activism

Allen Mendenhall and Daniel Sutter August 20, 2025 1 min read

Allen Mendenhall and Daniel Sutter
City Journal 

Excerpt: Business schools were once temples of market wisdom, teaching future executives how profits fuel prosperity and voluntary exchange lifts societies out of poverty. Yet our research suggests that these institutions today would rather pursue social change, preaching progressive doctrines with the zeal of converts.

In business schools across the globe, this transformation is well underway. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives have proliferated. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have become regular fixtures.

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