National Free Speech News & Commentary

FIRE

Excerpt: A new poll finds that Americans disapprove of some of the methods employed by the recent pro-Palestinian campus protesters, with large majorities saying they oppose vandalism, oppose building occupations, and support punishing students who participated in encampments.

As part of an AmeriSpeak panel conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression asked Americans in May about their feelings on the series of high-profile protests on college campuses that made headlines across the country.

Jerry A. Coyne
Why Evolution is True

Excerpt: Just when you thought the turmoil at Harvard was over, its briquettes have ignited again, thanks to a big squirt of lighter fluid from Harvard’s Dean of Social Science, Larry Bobo.  Last week, Bobo posted a deeply misguided editorial in the Harvard Crimson, which you can see by clicking the title below. What he calls for is in-house censorship of Harvard faculty, and even sanctions applied to those who nevertheless adhere to First-Amendment-permitted free speech.

Julia Steinberg
Free Press, Substack

Excerpt: The Stanford Internet Observatory—a research center tasked with rooting out “misinformation” on social media—is shutting its doors. Chances are if you’ve heard of the SIO it was in a scathing piece from Michael Shellenberger or Matt Taibbi, who have accused the center of being a key node in the censorship-industrial complex.

In actuality, SIO hired a load of interns to scan social media for posts deemed to be mis- and disinformation.

The Editorial Board
Wall Street Journal

Excerpt: Harvard has some slow learners, especially in the dean’s office. Lawrence Bobo, the dean of social science, kicked up a storm this week when he wrote in the Harvard Crimson that faculty members who criticize Harvard or its policies should be subject to university punishment.

Katherine Knott
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: The Biden administration’s new rule overhauling Title IX, the federal gender-equity law, is on hold in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia after a federal judge issued an order temporarily blocking the regulations from taking effect in those states Aug. 1.

Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, found that the final regulations, which clarify that Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sexual and gender identity, are inconsistent with the underlying Title IX statute, Congress’s intentions in passing the law, and the way it’s been regulated.

FIRE

Excerpt: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor Joe Gow was fired for producing porn off the clock. Tomorrow, UW will go after his tenured position after donors and politicians threatened to pull their support. Firing him would crash into the First Amendment.

Academic freedom generally protects faculty from punishment for what they do or say off the clock. The same law that shields faculty from getting fired or punished for their political opinions or associations also protects their right to create porn.