Robert Shibley

About Robert Shibley

Robert Shibley is FIRE's executive director. A native of Toledo, Ohio, and a graduate of Duke University and Duke University School of Law, he is the author of Twisting Title IX, from Encounter Books. During his 15-year career at FIRE, Robert has aided students and faculty members at hundreds of colleges and universities and personally traveled to dozens of campuses to educate students, faculty, and administrators about First Amendment issues. A free-speech activist who himself faced campus censorship, Robert's writing has appeared in many national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, and TIME. He has also represented FIRE on NPR, The O’Reilly Factor, CNN Tonight, Tucker Carlson Tonight, Stossel, Fox & Friends, and CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, as well as many other national and international television and radio programs.

Commentary

  • UCLA diversity requirement threatens academic freedom, trust in academia, November 9, 2018

  • Movement for academic boycott of Israel continues to raise thorny problems, produce bad consequences, October 10, 2018

  • Preliminary Education Department rules on campus sexual misconduct include important due process protections, according to report, August 30, 2018

  • Is there a free speech “crisis” on campus?, August 13, 2018

  • Best of Newsdesk: The First Amendment is for all Americans, regardless of their politics, August 13, 2018

  • The First Amendment is for all Americans, regardless of their politics, July 3, 2018

  • James Madison University reportedly orders alleged sexual assault victim not to go public, April 17, 2018

  • Title IX complaint filed after 8 years raises questions about due process at Stanford, April 12, 2018

  • White House forum discusses free speech on campus, March 23, 2018

  • How the civil rights movement brought us free speech on campus, January 15, 2018

    • Articles

  • The Washington Post, May 1, 2018, Fresno State protected its professor who ranted about Barbara Bush. Other schools should stand by free speech, too.

  • USA Today, August 17, 2017, Police must act fast to protect First Amendment rights: Robert Shibley

  • The Wall Street Journal, December 27, 2016, Time to Reform the Kangaroo Courts on Campus

  • The Washington Post, September 27, 2016, Lawyer: Why the Lower Standard of Evidence in College Sexual-Assault Cases is Dangerous

  • My Statesman, August 26, 2016, Commentary: ‘Sexual Harassers’ Protest Guns on Campus

  • The John William Pope Center, December 21, 2015, Keeping Free Speech Alive on Campus

  • Daily News, November 15, 2015, The Censors Must Not Win: Campus Thought Police Have Run Amok — but All Is Not Lost

  • The Blade, October 25, 2015, UT Must do More to Protect Free Speech on Campus

  • Star Tribune, August 13, 2015, U’s ‘Yes Means Yes’ Policy is Obviously Flawed

  • The Daily Caller, February 18, 2015, The New Prohibition: Infantilizing College Students

  • News & Observer, February 10, 2015, Saying No To Censorship At UNC-CH

  • TIME Magazine Online, December 1, 2014, Time to Call the Cops: Title IX Has Failed Campus Sexual Assault

  • The Daily Caller, October 16, 2014, For Some ‘Affirmative Consent’ Supporters, Injustice Is A Feature, Not A Bug

  • The Washington Post, July 2, 2014, Colleges Are Slowly Taking Away Your First Amendment Rights

  • Reason Online, May 27, 2014, Campus Trigger Warnings Threaten Speech and Treat Students Like Children

  • The Daily Caller, May 26, 2014, Notre Dame To Student Group: Who Needs You?

  • WGBH News, May 1, 2014, Due Process, Clarity Suffer As Feds Tackle Campus Sexual Assault

  • National Review Online, April 22, 2014, Another Day, Another Pro-Life Display Trashed on Campus

  • National Review Online, April 1, 2014, Time to Put an End to ‘Disinvitation Season’

  • March 25, 2014, Don’t Let The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Overwhelm Free Speech On Campus

  • The Daily Caller, December 30, 2013, 2013′s dumbest campus free speech cases

  • The Daily Caller, August 27, 2013, Fake ‘hate crimes’ continue to plague campuses

  • August 6, 2013, The Colonel’s secret recipe: censorship

  • Forbes Online, June 12, 2013, Reporting Your Neighbor’s Speech? Don’t Laugh, It’s Coming To A College Campus Near You

  • The John William Pope Center, May 23, 2013, What First Amendment?

  • The Daily Caller, May 13, 2013, Feds make everyone on campus a sexual harasser

  • The Daily Caller, April 25, 2013, Old Dartmouth: Classes. New Dartmouth: Civility ‘teach-ins’

  • The Daily Caller, April 25, 2013, Old Dartmouth: Classes. New Dartmouth: Civility ‘teach-ins’

  • Minding the Campus, April 21, 2013, 6 Ways to Defeat the Campus Censors

  • Forbes.com, March 12, 2013, If You Work For Harvard, It’s Possible You’re Being Watched By Harvard

  • The Daily Caller, February 21, 2013, Governor McDonnell should defend religious freedom on Virginia campuses

  • College Insurrection, February 1, 2013, College President Personally Smacked with $50,000 Bill for Violating Constitution

  • Forbes.com, January 15, 2013, A Bit Of The Future Was Lost With The Tragic Death Of Aaron Swartz

  • The Daily Caller, December 26, 2012, 2012: a tough year for free speech on campus

  • Forbes, December 12, 2012, Harvard, Legendary Home Of Harvard Lampoon, Strangles Campus Satire

  • The Daily Caller, November 28, 2012, College to student group: No selling Christmas trees, only ‘holiday’ trees

  • One News Now, October 5, 2012, School’s Censorship Policy Doesn’t Fly

  • The Daily Caller, October 1, 2012, ‘Problem’: Offensive speech. ‘Solution’: Censorship and vandalism?

  • The Daily Caller, September 26, 2012, Why Eric Posner is wrong about free speech

  • One News Now, September 25, 2012, Civility Encouraged, No Longer Required

  • The Daily Caller, September 12, 2012, Can the government mandate that speech not offend?

  • The Daily Caller, September 7, 2012, U. of Texas drops inquiry into author of gay parenting report

  • The Daily Caller, August 23, 2012, U. of Cincinnati loses free speech lawsuit – is another Ohio college next?

  • The Daily Caller, August 20, 2012, Vanderbilt exiles evangelical Christians, Catholics

  • The Daily Caller, August 16, 2012, U of Central Florida punishes student, then rips off his idea

  • The Daily Caller, July 20, 2012, University totalitarianism leaves no free speech behind

  • Pajamas Media, March 10, 2012, Campus President Rebukes Limbaugh-Supporting Professor

  • The Daily Caller, February 24, 2012, ‘Right to work’ students sue University of Cincinnati over ‘Free Speech Area’

  • The Daily Caller, February 17, 2012, Pay for your censorship yourself

  • The Daily Caller, December 13, 2011, Virginia Tech and the freedom to hold a candlelight vigil

  • The Daily Caller, November 1, 2011, Vanderbilt to religious groups: No beliefs allowed

  • The Daily Caller, September 23, 2011, Insult Obama? Not on this campus!

  • The Daily Caller, September 13, 2011, Commemorate 9/11 on campus? Not without a permit!

  • New York Post, August 25, 2011, Brainwashing U

  • The Daily Caller, August 11, 2011, A warning to college parents and grandparents

  • The Herald-Sun, June 23, 2011, Annoy UNC to silence its profs

  • Pajamas Media, March 6, 2011, In Defense of Uncivil Speech

  • February 1, 2011, Arizona State University Eliminates Speech Code, Earning FIRE’s ‘Green Light’ Rating

  • Chapel Hill Herald, October 17, 2010, Shibley: UNC should recommit to First Amendment

  • Pajamas Media, July 1, 2010, Concealed Carry on Campus?

  • Pajamas Media, March 11, 2010, Censoring bigoted speech at UC San Diego: Who does it help?

  • February 1, 2010, Will Chief Illiniwek dance again?

  • January 18, 2010, The Rev. Dr. King on Civil Disobedience

  • Pajamas Media, December 29, 2009, Yale Wimps Out Again

  • September 13, 2009, America’s worst colleges for free speech on campus

  • Pajamas Media, August 14, 2009, Unexplained mysteries in Mohammed cartoon controversy

  • Pajamas Media, June 27, 2009, A crackdown on free speech at … Bucknell University?

  • Pajamas Media, May 11, 2009, The NCAA vs. Free Speech

  • Pajamas Media, April 27, 2009, U.S. Universities: Education or Indoctrination?

  • The Boston Globe, April 9, 2009, Why no one should be silenced on campus

  • Dartblog, September 29, 2008, ‘The Cornell Review’ contretemps

  • The Providence Journal, January 18, 2008, Robert L. Shibley: Fighting for free speech on 2 R.I. campuses

  • New York Post, October 12, 2006, Litmus lesson: Teachers College’s political tests

  • New York Post, August 1, 2006, No free speech for SUNY profs?

  • Pennsylvania Independent, January 25, 2006, Lighting the FIRE of Liberty in Philadelphia

  • The Daily Pennsylvanian, December 2, 2005, Letter to the Editor

  • The Record (Bergen, N.J.), July 25, 2005, Letter to the Editor

  • The Oklahoman, February 23, 2005, Professor’s case exposes bias