The Eternally Radical Idea

The metaphor doesn’t capture free speech’s most fundamental function: Freedom of speech gives you a fighting chance to know the world as it really is. Read more

In our final post, we wanted to cover some possible solutions to the problems Jonathan and Greg discuss in their book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, and then expand to what readers can do to help protect free speech and academic... Read more Read more

One of the many surprises of working to defend freedom of speech on college campuses over the last 18 years is how frequently harassment rationales have been used to justify clearly unconstitutional campus speech codes — and how little this is known outside of relatively small circles. For example, it’s not uncommon for Greg talk... Read more Read more

Yesterday, we showed how speech codes are consistently struck down by courts. Today, we look at two ongoing cases that threaten to curb that trend by expanding the doctrine of mootness while narrowing what qualifies to establish standing. In May, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia dismissed Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, a... Read more Read more

My organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), has been fighting to protect freedom of speech on college and university campuses since 1999. It is with great honor that I share with you the testimony that I will be giving to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice... Read more Read more

Back in March, I wrote a post about a phenomenon that I kind of assumed already everyone knew about. Within my organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), we call this “disinvitation season,” the time of year when — thanks to high-profile commencement speakers — the push by some students and faculty to... Read more Read more

The events in Charlottesville last weekend have provoked understandable fear and outrage. Potential sites for future “alt-right” rallies are on edge. Texas A&M University, the University of Florida and Michigan State University have all decided to cancel or deny prospective events by white nationalist Richard Spencer. All cited safety concerns. All raise serious First Amendment issues. Even... Read more Read more

The April issue of The New Yorker magazine included one of the more powerful rallying cries to defend global free speech that I’ve read this year. Written by George Packer, it discussed how, at that point, two secular or atheist bloggers had been killed in the streets of Bangladesh in just the previous two months.... Read more Read more

It started with a comment from a comedian about playing on college campuses. Last week, we honored the 50th anniversary of the death of the late, great, iconoclastic comedian Lenny Bruce. As older generations know, but the current one might not, Lenny Bruce was the last comedian in America to be sentenced to jail for jokes he made... Read more Read more

2015 will be remembered as a year in which campus free speech issues took center stage, receiving extensive coverage in outlets like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Slate, Vox, and Salon. Even President Obama voiced concerns about the lack of debate on college campuses. For those of us who have been fighting campus censors for years, it’s hard not to ask:... Read more Read more