National Free Speech News & Commentary

John Tomasi
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment, yes or no?” Instead of rising to the moment at a high-profile congressional hearing, Harvard president Claudine Gay ducked into a nearby legal hedge and crouched. The Economist put it kindly: “Sometimes you get the technicalities right but still flunk the test.” What test was flunked? The test of presidential leadership.

Jordan Howell
Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression

Excerpt: Since the October 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel and the subsequent invasion of Gaza, college campuses across the United States have experienced almost daily protests and demonstrations by students and faculty of all political stripes. Some are raising their voices in support of Israelis; others, in support of Palestinians.

That being said, FIRE has been troubled to see some college leaders react to protected speech and peaceful protests with calls to prohibit speech they view as inflammatory or even to ban student groups because of their viewpoints. The use of one phrase in particular — “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — is so hotly contested that some have called for banning its utterance entirely.

Eugene Volokh
The Volokh Conspiracy, Reason Magazine

Excerpt: A very interesting new article, by Profs. James L. Gibson (Wash. U.) and Joseph L. Sutherland (Emory). What struck me is the magnitude of the felt lack of freedom among the three most moderate segments, even setting aside the different reactions on the extremes:

And here's an excerpt from the introduction to the article: “While some might understand these data to indicate that those with ‘bad’ views are no longer free to express themselves, which may be a good thing, we have no means of discerning whether the speech lost is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ speech. Owing to the benefits of deliberations among citizens for democratic politics, most democratic theorists would regard these results as too important to ignore…”

Jessie Appleby and Graham Piro
Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression

Excerpt: Free speech fallout continues from the disastrous congressional testimony on campus anti-Semitism given earlier this month by the presidents of Penn, MIT, and Harvard. Now, at least three other elite universities have announced that calls for genocide would violate their policies. Last week, FIRE wrote Stanford University, Columbia University, and Yale University, urging them to forgo revising their policies to punish speech that allegedly calls for genocide, because such an overbroad rule risks prohibiting protected speech including hyperbole, satire, or ambiguous language.

Douglas Belkin
Wall Street Journal

Excerpt: The recent resignation of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill was a rarity in higher education—outside forces had stormed up the ivory tower and dethroned a leader. It was an uprising years in the making.

 [Princetonians for Free Speech co-founder Edward Yingling anticipates that over time prospective students will vote with their feet, especially if some employers stop hiring from certain universities because they don’t believe students are exposed to a range of views and are free to engage in open debate…. "The elite schools…will become known as schools of indoctrination and not true universities," said Yingling. "A Harvard degree will no longer be a ticket to success, it will be a scarlet letter."

Eugene Volokh
Volokh Conspiracy, Reason Magazine

Excerpt: I've argued before that, if universities ban "advocacy of genocide," that "could easily be used against pro-Israel speakers," such as those who support Israel's counterattack on Hamas in Gaza. Here's supporting evidence, from the Harvard/Harris poll conducted last week:

It appears that a substantial majority of college-age registered voters, and indeed likely of 18-to-34-year-olds, characterize Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocide." And though the majority among the public at large don't do that, it's easy to imagine many university administrations and faculties who would be more on the anti-Israel side than is the country as a whole—especially when they are supported in their anti-Israel positions by student sentiment.