Let Your Light Shine: My Year As the Visiting Scholar of Conservative Thought at the University of Colorado

May 31, 2017 · · 17 Comments on Let Your Light Shine: My Year As the Visiting Scholar of Conservative Thought at the University of Colorado

A little over four years ago the University of Colorado, Boulder began a three-year pilot program that I believe has no precedent in American higher education. With the help of private donors, and the support of the university’s board, president, and chancellor, the school created the position of Visiting Scholar of Conservative Thought and Policy. … Continue reading “Let Your Light Shine: My Year As the Visiting Scholar of Conservative Thought at the University of Colorado”

A Graduate’s Perspective: Thought Police Are Undermining Higher Education

May 29, 2017 · · 48 Comments on A Graduate’s Perspective: Thought Police Are Undermining Higher Education

During my time at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I graduated this spring, many of my peers and professors seemed to genuinely care about the free exchange of ideas, students were often pushed to explore all sides of an issue, and analysis of factual evidence was usually a key goal of … Continue reading “A Graduate’s Perspective: Thought Police Are Undermining Higher Education”

Court Ruling in the McAdams Case: A Body Blow to Free Speech and Tenure

May 12, 2017 · · 10 Comments on Court Ruling in the McAdams Case: A Body Blow to Free Speech and Tenure

The Martin Center has been covering the Kafkaesque case of Marquette University professor John McAdams since it first broke several years ago. Professor Howard Kainz first wrote about it in “Firing Professor McAdams: When a Catholic University Collides with Political Correctness.” He explained the substance of the problem between the university and McAdams, which was … Continue reading “Court Ruling in the McAdams Case: A Body Blow to Free Speech and Tenure”

Free Speech Is More Threatened Than Ever and We Must Respond

May 3, 2017 · · 9 Comments on Free Speech Is More Threatened Than Ever and We Must Respond

Many readers probably have read about the New Wave of free speech suppression that has swept across campuses in the last several years. It comes on the heels of the previous era of speech codes that reigned from the late 1980s through the first decade of the 2000s. In 2005, I published the Independent Institute … Continue reading “Free Speech Is More Threatened Than Ever and We Must Respond”

Wake Forest Faculty Attempt to Undermine Koch-Funded Campus Institute

Mar 27, 2017 · · 22 Comments on Wake Forest Faculty Attempt to Undermine Koch-Funded Campus Institute

The Faculty Senate at Wake Forest University made headlines last week when it demanded that the university reject a $3.69 million grant from the Charles Koch Foundation. Such a stance is not unusual. Many liberal faculty members and student groups are now trying to “UnKoch” their campuses. But Wake Forest’s Faculty Senate resolution goes further. … Continue reading “Wake Forest Faculty Attempt to Undermine Koch-Funded Campus Institute”

Bias Response Teams Chill Free Speech and Miseducate Students

Mar 15, 2017 · · 5 Comments on Bias Response Teams Chill Free Speech and Miseducate Students

In their Atlantic article, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukainoff identified a troubling development on American campuses. They wrote, “A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense.” Instead of confronting statements, beliefs, … Continue reading “Bias Response Teams Chill Free Speech and Miseducate Students”

How Academe Helped to Elect Trump

Mar 3, 2017 · · 17 Comments on How Academe Helped to Elect Trump

President Trump scares academe. Many feel threatened, under siege, rejected, aghast. Eric Klineberg, professor of sociology at New York University, summed up this anxiety a few days after the election: “My pulse raced and my blood pressure spiked when I realized that Donald Trump would be president. I felt afraid.” Trump’s victory, he adds, is … Continue reading “How Academe Helped to Elect Trump”

A Tweet Too Far

Jan 6, 2017 · · 17 Comments on A Tweet Too Far

When Drexel University political science professor George Ciccariello-Maher tweeted “All I want for Christmas is white genocide” on Christmas Eve, he handed the Philadelphia school an opportunity to play an integral role in our national intellectual dialogue. Drexel could have helped to clarify an important academic freedom issue and, in doing so, earned a reputation … Continue reading “A Tweet Too Far”

Academic Freedom in the Age of Political Correctness

Oct 5, 2016 · · No Comments on Academic Freedom in the Age of Political Correctness

The John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, National Association of Scholars, and First Things invite you to Academic Freedom in the Age of Political Correctness October 5, 2016, 6:00-8:00 PM — 35 East 21st Street, New York, New York Speakers: Jay Schalin, Director of Policy Analysis, John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy Peter Wood, President, … Continue reading “Academic Freedom in the Age of Political Correctness”

Academic Freedom in an Age of Political Correctness

Sep 28, 2016 · · 2 Comments on Academic Freedom in an Age of Political Correctness

In 2010, a seemingly insignificant event in a far-off land caught my eye. The Israeli academic world was having a fracas over the actions of “post-Zionist” faculty that raised important questions about the principle of academic freedom. Briefly, Zionism is support for a religious Jewish state; post–Zionism refers to the desire for Zionist Israel to … Continue reading “Academic Freedom in an Age of Political Correctness”