National Free Speech News & Commentary

DOJ Takes Aim at UC San Diego Med School’s Use of Hardship in Admissions

DOJ Takes Aim at UC San Diego Med School’s Use of Hardship in Admissions

Katherine Knott July 23, 2026 1 min read

The University of California at San Diego’s medical school discriminated on the basis of race in admissions decisions over the course of three cycles, the Justice Department claimed this week. 

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Even Free Speech Proponents Violate Their Principles. We Need Institutions That Can’t.

Even Free Speech Proponents Violate Their Principles. We Need Institutions That Can’t.

Joseph (Jake) Klein July 23, 2026 1 min read

The debate over free speech on campus is usually framed as a persuasion problem: if only more students believed in free expression, the culture would protect it. A new study in Science Advances, by researchers at Stanford, Penn, Columbia, and the University of Colorado, suggests the problem runs deeper. 

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Trump Administration Can’t Cite Changed Priorities to Terminate Grants

Trump Administration Can’t Cite Changed Priorities to Terminate Grants

Ryann Quinn July 22, 2026 1 min read

When university researchers started to receive notice last year that the Trump administration was canceling their grants, they often didn’t get a clear explanation why beyond that their project “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”

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New Academic Freedom Podcast on Pernell Decision

New Academic Freedom Podcast on Pernell Decision

Keith E. Whittington  July 22, 2026 1 min read

A new episode of the Academic Freedom Podcast has been released. The podcast is sponsored by the Academic Freedom Alliance and the Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech at Yale Law School.

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Bans on “Divisive Concepts” Risk Stifling Speech

Bans on “Divisive Concepts” Risk Stifling Speech

Erin Shaw July 22, 2026 1 min read

The growing (though not unanimous) acknowledgement that academia has lost public trust may be increasingly uncontroversial. But identifying remedies to repair that broken trust is proving to be much more contested.

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After punishing people for Charlie Kirk comments, colleges are paying steep settlements

After punishing people for Charlie Kirk comments, colleges are paying steep settlements

Graham Piro  July 16, 2026 1 min read

Violating the First Amendment will cost you. Universities and other public institutions are learning this lesson the hard way as the dust settles on a series of lawsuits brought by university faculty and staff who were punished for their comments about Charlie Kirk’s murder last September.

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