“State of the First Amendment” survey includes unsettling data on campus speech
A new survey gauging Americans’ attitudes toward the First Amendment and related issues reveals some troubling attitudes about campus speech, including an uptick in support for disinviting controversial speakers.
Freedom Forum Institute’s 2018 State of the First Amendment survey, released in June, measures “Americans’ changing attitudes toward their core freedoms.” The annual survey has been conducted for more than two decades. It asks a representative subsection of American adults both questions that remain the same every year to measure changes over time, as well as new questions about recent events and trends.
This year, respondents were asked detailed questions about [...] » Read More
The flagship student civil liberties event of the year kicks off tomorrow!
The FIRE Student Network Summer Conference begins tomorrow! Over 100 students from around the country and across the ideological spectrum are coming together in Philadelphia for a weekend of workshops, networking, and collaboration with the nation’s top campus free speech advocates.
Attendees will hear from keynote speakers Ira Glasser, former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Jacob Mchangama, the founder and director of Danish think-tank Justitia and host of the podcast Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech.
FIRE’s staff has been gearing up for months to ensure that every student who [...] » Read More
New book by FIRE President Greg Lukianoff and NYU Professor Jonathan Haidt coming Sept. 4th
The wait is almost over! FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff and NYU Professor Jonathan Haidt’s new book “The Coddling of the American Mind” is due to hit shelves — and Amazon — on September 4th. The book is an expansion of their groundbreaking 2015 Atlantic cover story of the same name. Penguin Press describes the book as a “timely investigation into the new ‘safety culture’ on campus and the dangers it poses to free speech, mental health, education, and ultimately democracy.”
Harvard University Professor Steven Pinker had this to say about “The Coddling of the American [...] » Read More
2018 FIRE Faculty Conference: Two weeks left to apply!
There are only two weeks left to apply to attend FIRE’s 2018 faculty conference — we’re accepting applications through July 31. Space is limited, so apply now to secure a spot!
The faculty conference will take place from Oct. 11–13 in Chicago at Loyola University Chicago’s downtown Water Tower campus, with accommodations at the nearby Omni Hotel. The conference will bring together faculty from a range of disciplines and institutions for panels and discussions on core issues related to academic freedom, faculty rights, and free expression on campus. There is no fee to attend the conference, and those [...] » Read More
University of Michigan ordered to provide hearing to student accused of sexual misconduct
Earlier this month, a federal district court in Michigan ordered the University of Michigan to provide a student facing potential expulsion for sexual misconduct with a live hearing at which he would have the opportunity to indirectly question his accuser by submitting questions to be asked by the hearing panel.
This ruling is a significant rebuke to the popular “single investigator” method of adjudicating sexual misconduct claims on campus, as well as to the bifurcated process by which most schools adjudicate sexual and non-sexual misconduct.
The plaintiff, who (as is typical of these cases) filed his lawsuit under the pseudonym [...] » Read More
Category: Newsdesk, Top Story Schools: University of Michigan
Avoiding ostrich behavior: Free speech as a nonpartisan ideal
I’ve had ostriches on the mind lately. The 7-foot, 200-pound bird is a feathered force of nature. And, I’ve been thinking, though I do find ostriches endearing, humans would not do well to emulate their purported behavior, mythical as it may be. We go nowhere fast if we bury our heads in the ground. Mirroring this false stereotype of ostrich behavior will produce nothing but sandy ears and pernicious ignorance. The perpetuity of our ongoing American experiment in constitutional democracy is wholly reliant upon freedom of expression — engaging in the opposite of ostrich behavior.
I say this even as [...] » Read More
Civil liberties coalition calls on University of Kansas to restore flag art display
Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education joined with two prominent civil liberties organizations to call on the University of Kansas to reject censorship and restore an art display that the university removed last week.
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Category: Newsdesk, Press Releases, Top Story
Schools: University of Kansas
Cases: University of Kansas: Art Installation Censored Following Politicians’ Demands
Former University of Central Florida kicker scores courtroom win in YouTube case
A Florida judge ruled this week that a lawsuit by former University of Central Florida football player and popular YouTuber Donald De La Haye against UCF may proceed because he has a plausible First Amendment claim.
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Category: Newsdesk, Top Story Schools: University of Central Florida
Lawrence Journal-World wrong on flag art censorship at University of Kansas
If you’ve been reading FIRE’s Newsdesk and following our social media accounts this week, you’ve seen the bad news out of the University of Kansas. Late Wednesday, KU removed a public art installation after some, including Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Governor Jeff Colyer, said the artwork desecrated the American flag.
The artwork in question, “Untitled (Flag 2),” by Josephine Meckseper, uses the American flag as its canvas, and is described by the artist as “a collage of an American flag and one of my dripped paintings which resembles the contours of the [...] » Read More
Category: Newsdesk, Top Story
Schools: University of Kansas
Cases: University of Kansas: Art Installation Censored Following Politicians’ Demands
Yale’s Culture of Disallowing Discourse
It’s hard to forget your first college move-in day. Emotions are running high as you lug your overstuffed suitcases into your new dorm room. I was about to begin the next chapter of my life at Yale, and I was as ecstatic as I was overwhelmed. I kissed my family goodbye and nervously went to introduce myself to the five other girls who I would now be living with. We quickly bonded over my Frank Sinatra poster and our mutual love of tacos.
However, underneath our long talks and late-night bacon, egg, and cheese runs, there was an unspoken tension [...] » Read More
Category: Newsdesk, Top Story Schools: Yale University
