In recent years, American universities have come under fire for frequent mistreatment of speech on their campuses. Often, this mistreatment is a result of restrictive or ill-defined speech codes—policies that … Continue reading “Federal Bill May Bolster Campus Free Speech, But Will it Go Anywhere?”
The following is adapted from an address given at a Martin Center luncheon on July 15, 2021. Finally, I come to my main argument: Safe spaces. I want to come … Continue reading “Safe Spaces: Balancing Academic Freedom and Wokeness”
Here is a recurring situation on American college and university campuses—an official acts in a way that violates the constitutional rights of students or faculty members, usually by trampling on … Continue reading “College Officials Should be Responsible When They Violate People’s Rights”
College athletes’ rights, including their economic rights, have long been denied. American college sports have existed under an antiquated and oft-changing definition of amateurism that requires athletes to forfeit any … Continue reading “College Athletes’ Payment Rights: A Question of When and How, Not If”
(Editor’s note: this article was updated on August 25, 2021, to provide additional information and clarification about the microaggressions research done by Monnica Williams, Ph.D.) The need to combat “microaggressions” … Continue reading “How ‘Experts’ Abused Science to Saddle America with the Microaggression Mania”
Back in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, church officials felt it necessary to scrutinize every book or pamphlet for the slightest hint of heresy. If the work deviated from … Continue reading “The Campaign to Stamp Out Academic Heresy”
Professor John Ellis has served on college faculties since 1963 and is now an emeritus professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz. He has witnessed enormous changes in higher education … Continue reading “A Scholar’s Lament”
In the spring of 2019, three professors at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill conducted a study to understand free speech and constructive dialogue on campus. The study invited UNC … Continue reading “Did You Know? At UNC-Chapel Hill, About 19% of Liberals and 3% of Moderates and Conservatives Would Block Controversial Speaker”
On February 5, more than 100 students, faculty, administrators, and political activists packed a lecture hall at UNC-Chapel Hill to hear controversial indigenous studies professor Steven Salaita speak about academic freedom and censorship.
Of all the many ideas that constitute our civilization, none is more central or important than the norms of free inquiry. The last place one should entrust these norms for safekeeping and propagation is to a bureaucracy that is dedicated to peace and quiet. Yet today, it is they, not the faculty, who are the true enemies of free speech on campus.