Free speech on campus has become a point of concern for many. News reports describe speakers being disinvited from campus or shouted down. Events such as students being arrested for giving away free copies of the U.S. Constitution on a college campus have become ordinary. North Carolina has not been immune to this worrisome trend. In … Continue reading “Have North Carolina Colleges Improved Their Free Speech Protections?”
This report examines the speech and assembly protections for students and faculty members at North Carolina’s universities, both public and private. It is a follow-up to the 2010 report, “Do North Carolina Students Have Freedom of Speech? A Review of Campus Speech Codes.” In the eight years since the publication of that report, North Carolina … Continue reading “Do North Carolina Students Have Freedom of Speech? A Review of Campus Speech Codes”
In 2017, the North Carolina legislature passed House Bill 527 (now State Law 2017-196) in order to foster free, open inquiry in the state’s colleges and universities. One of the provisions ordered the University of North Carolina system Board of Governors to produce an annual report on two major categories of intellectual freedom: free speech … Continue reading “Free Speech at UNC: Improvement, but Still Lots to Do”
North Carolina just added a new layer of meaning to its motto, First in Flight. This time the state is the first in the nation to get campus free speech off the runway. The North Carolina Campus Free Speech Act lofts the idea that college students and invited speakers have a right to express … Continue reading “Are North Carolina Universities Biased? Look at What Students Are Reading”
Editor: The following piece is adapted from a talk delivered by Stanley Kurtz at a Martin Center event in Wilmington, North Carolina on May 18, 2018. First, I want to express my gratitude to Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest and his staff, the General Assembly, and the people of the state for the passage of House … Continue reading “Implementing the North Carolina Campus Free Speech Act”
Higher education has a public relations problem on its hands. The results of a new Pew Research survey show that almost 60 percent of Republicans believe higher education has a “negative effect on the way things are going in the country.” Given recent high-profile cases involving violent protests, the shouting-down of conservative campus speakers, and … Continue reading “Student Governments Can Help to Restore Faith in Higher Education”
Student intolerance and opposition to free speech have been gaining momentum. What began as isolated incidents at the University of Missouri and Yale University in fall 2015 quickly spread to other universities, leading to individuals being targeted for simply expressing their opinions. Recent rioting that prevented a speech by Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley, and … Continue reading “NC Joins Growing List of States Seeking to Protect Campus Free Speech”
Between the rise of safe spaces, trigger warnings, speaker disinvitations, and the often illiberal conduct of campus demonstrators over the past few years, it’s clear that the core constitutional value of free speech is now under siege at our colleges and universities. The fraying of commitment to freedom of speech on the part of college … Continue reading “The Campus Free Speech Act: A Way to Restore the Marketplace of Ideas”