National Free Speech News & Commentary

Alan Rozenshtein
Volokh Conspiracy, Reason Magazine

Excerpt: According to the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), a conservative advocacy group, the University of Wisconsin Law School conducted a mandatory 1L "reorientation DEI session" last week for which students had to fill out a "race timeline worksheet" with "7 significant moments at least" of "significant life events around race" and read a worksheet listing 28 "common racist attitudes and behaviors," including views like "I'm colorblind" and "We have overcome." A student who attended the session confirmed to me that WILL's reporting was broadly accurate.

But I want to focus on a different point: that an educational institution committed to academic freedom and free inquiry should not use mandatory trainings to impose contested moral claims (again, without taking a position on the specifics of how the Wisconsin session was conducted).

Excerpt: A war is raging over “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Opponents and supporters of DEI have very different ideas about what it is. “DEI is racist because reverse racism is racism,” hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman tweets. “Good businesses look where others don’t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed,” businessman Mark Cuban counters.

Both men have a point. Some of what happens under the DEI banner is truly objectionable, even illegal—hiring, promotion and admissions standards under which race trumps qualifications, training sessions that create a hostile environment for whites. But as companies, universities and other organizations weed out these practices, they should be careful that the parts of DEI that the majority of us agree on don’t become collateral damage.

Greg Lukianoff
The Eternally Radical Idea, Substack

Excerpt: I appeared on “Rising” with Robby Soave and Briahna Joy Gray on Wednesday, and I have some thoughts I want to share with you all coming off of that discussion.

However, the big question that came up during our discussion was whether the presence of DEI administrators is a threat to free speech on campus — and, well … yes, it is. But it’s not only DEI administrators. If my more than two decades doing this work has taught me anything, it’s that administrators in general are threats to free speech on campus.

Lisa Tolin
PEN America

Excerpt: Amid its high-profile struggle around free speech on campus, Harvard University invited PEN America to convene a Free Speech Summit on Friday for 100 student leaders from Harvard and other universities.

The event kicked off with a lively keynote panel about free expression in higher education featuring PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel, Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy, and University of Chicago Dean of the College John W. Boyer, moderated by Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana.

Josh Moody
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: On Monday, the Florida Department of Education honored civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. for his “dedication to service and equality.” On Wednesday, Florida’s State Board of Education voted to prohibit spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs at 28 state colleges.

The vote marks the latest strike against DEI programs in a state where such initiatives have come under fire from Republican governor—and current GOP presidential candidate—Ron DeSantis, who has called such programs both wasteful and “hostile to academic freedom.”

Mark Pulliam
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal

Excerpt:  To its credit, the American Bar Association, responsible for accrediting the nation’s law schools for purposes of eligibility for federal student loans and graduates’ bar admission, is considering a proposal (sponsored by the ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar) that would require law schools to adopt policies protecting the free-speech rights of faculty, staff, and students. It would also prohibit disruptive conduct interfering with free expression (such as the “heckler’s veto”) and provide for due process for those accused of violating the policy.

The ABA’s accreditation rules carry great weight, because law schools that do not comply face the loss of their accreditation—in effect, capital punishment. Law schools cannot ignore the ABA when accreditation is at stake, and the ABA knows it.