National Free Speech News & Commentary

Steven McGuire and Michael B. Poliakoff
Tablet Magazine

Excerpt: Censorship is ugly behavior, whether it comes from the right or the left. Fortunately, it is most often self-defeating, but it is a warning sign of deeper pathology. So we see in the matter of philosopher, filmmaker, and humanitarian Bernard-Henri Lévy’s new book, Israel Alone.

Jonathan Turley
Jonathan Turley's Blog

Excerpt: Below is my column in the New York Post on the prestigious award given to Stanford Professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya last week and what it has to say about those who censored, blacklisted, and vilified him for the last four years. In celebrating his fight for “intellectual freedom,” the National Academy effectively condemned those who joined the mob against him as well as the many professors who stayed silent as he and others were targeted.

Nate Tenhundfeld
Free the Inquiry, Heterodox Academy, Substack

Excerpt: Our friends over at FIRE keep a running list of incidents in which scholars have been targeted for something they have said or done. Helpfully, not only do they catalog cases by year and university but also by who initiates the targeting and what ideological direction they are coming from (relative to the position or issue at hand).

But do these targeting mobs always look the same? Are threats from the left mirrored in frequency by threats from the right? One thing that becomes immediately apparent looking at the data is that the ideological motivation for targeting of scholars on college campuses does not originate from just one side of the political aisle.

Sophia Wotman and Sam Levine
The Brown Daily Herald

Excerpt: The University temporarily suspended Brown’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine pending an external investigation into conduct violations at a pro-divestment protest held earlier this month.

“Given the severity of alleged threatening, intimidating and harassing actions during an event on campus, Brown University has initiated a review of the event and required the Brown chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to cease all organization activities pending full review of the matter,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark told The Herald.

Alumni Free Speech Alliance
Alma Matters, Substack

Excerpt: It's hard for free speech to flourish in a climate of fear, enforced conformity, “groupthink” and strictly policed political correctness. It's hard to speak and think freely, as a professor or a student, when any errant, unpopular, or unauthorized thought or phrase could get you canceled -- when your campus becomes a minefield through which you must tiptoe with care. If you doubt it, just ask an instructor at Harvard.

The pins and needles on which Harvard instructors walk highlight how bad things have become at our supposed bastions of free-thinking, open inquiry, and fearless truth-seeking. And the problem has only grown worse in the wake of the war in Gaza, according to a must-read story in The New York Post.

Michael S. Roth
Slate Magazine

Excerpt: It is urgent that the leaders of colleges and universities stand up in defense of their interests and the values of higher education. American schools have long trumpeted their contribution to promoting an educated citizenry. Now, as one of the most consequential elections in American history approaches, we must do everything we can to help students work on campaigns and facilitate voting. And we must call out the threats to higher education.

This may seem straightforward, but in the wake of Oct. 7 and controversies over statements (or the lack of statements) concerning the atrocities, many academic leaders have embraced a doctrine of “institutional neutrality.” This is exactly the wrong time for such a retreat.