Louisiana governor vetoes campus free speech bill
Governor John Bel Edwards vetoed HB 269 yesterday, a bill that would have better protected free speech on public college campuses in Louisiana. The bill was sent to Gov. Edwards with strong bipartisan support, passing the state’s House of Representatives 95-0 and its Senate 30-2.
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ABA recommendations on college due process highlight problems with status quo
Yesterday, The American Bar Association (ABA) Criminal Justice Section published a report and recommendations on how colleges and universities should handle allegations of sexual misconduct, addressing several serious shortcomings in campus disciplinary procedures across the country. While schools that implement the recommendations would be taking a valuable step toward ensuring students are not erroneously found responsible for sexual misconduct, the recommendations do not go as far as FIRE would like when it comes to guaranteeing safeguards for due process.
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Concerned with what’s happening on campus? Make an impact by supporting FIRE’s 2016-17 Annual Fund before June 30
Each year, FIRE receives over 4,500 gifts from concerned citizens across the country. The vast majority of these Annual Fund gifts fall below $250, but regardless of the amount, each and every one of them has an impact on America’s college and university campuses and in the lives of the students and professors who learn and work at the schools. Working together through our Annual Fund, FIRE’s donors empower all of our work and effect real change inside the academy.
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Free speech gets the ‘green light’ at East Carolina University
East Carolina University has earned the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s (FIRE’s) highest, “green light” rating after changing four campus policies to meet First Amendment standards. The state of North Carolina now has six institutions with this rating, more than any other state.
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Category: Newsdesk, Press Releases, Top Story Schools: East Carolina University
Senators McConnell, Sanders talk about protecting free speech on campus; McConnell mentions FIRE on Senate floor
Senators from across the political spectrum dedicated an appreciable amount of time last week to talking about campus free speech. Last Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee hosted a hearing called “Free Speech 101: The Assault on the First Amendment on College Campuses,” in which both Democratic and Republican senators recognized the importance of the First Amendment and the protections it provides.
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Professor Sine Anahita: Current approach to enforcing Title IX invites ‘trouble’
In a recent online article for Academe, the magazine of the American Association of University Professors, Professor Sine Anahita pens a thoughtful critique of some of the ways overzealousness in recent interpretations of Title IX has created serious problems on campus.
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Thoughts on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing on campus free speech
This has been a big week for freedom of speech. On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled in Matal v. Tam that the First Amendment prohibits the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from denying trademark registration for the name of Simon Tam’s rock band, The Slants, on the basis that it allegedly “disparages” Asians. Then, on Tuesday, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing titled “Free Speech 101: The Assault on the First Amendment on College Campuses,” to put a spotlight on campus censorship.
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“Where’s FIRE!?” On the case, as always
Over the past decade, public recognition of FIRE’s effective advocacy on behalf of student and faculty rights has increased significantly. We’re grateful for the heightened visibility; our hard-won prominence helps us reach more people in need of our help and win more victories.
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Disturbing trend continues: Trinity College professor faces threats
The repeated outbreaks of violence in response to campus speech made the past semester one of the most depressing I’ve worked in my decade of defending campus rights here at FIRE. Unfortunately, that ugly trend is now matched by another deeply disturbing phenomenon: professors fielding violent threats for exercising their right to free speech.
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Category: Newsdesk, Top Story Schools: Trinity College
FIRE’s Policy Reform department is hiring!
Free speech-minded attorneys and recent law school graduates, pay attention: FIRE is looking to add a new staff member to its Policy Reform department.
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