- Is the modern college campus suffering from a decline in viewpoint diversity?
- Do American universities prepare students for life in a politically divided democracy?
- And does political orthodoxy reduce the quality of research, scholarship, and education?
FIRE Investigates: An (il)liberal arts education at Wellesley College? (VIDEO)
What happens when the liberal arts education you expected turns out to be an illiberal one?
That’s the question a small group of Wellesley College students are grappling with at the historic Boston-area school, famous for educating some of the world’s most successful women.
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Category: Newsdesk, Top Story, Top Video, Video Schools: Wellesley College
The state of free speech at RPI: Not good
Over the past year, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has worked to censor students protesting administrator’s attempts to take over the Rensselaer Union
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Category: Newsdesk, Top Story, Top Video, Video Schools: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
FIRE’s activism portal offers newest, fastest way to protect free speech on campus (VIDEO)
FIRE supporters can now lobby their college or university for better speech policies directly from our website! In just a few seconds, you can put much-needed pressure on your institution to revise bad policies that threaten speech or thank “green light” schools for respecting free speech rights.
To take action, look up your school in the Spotlight database and click “Take Action.” A small form will appear that will allow you to send a prewritten email to the president or chancellor of the university in support of student rights.
Watch the activism portal in action in the video below:
To [...] » Read More
Category: Newsdesk, Top Story, Top Video, Video
FIRE staffers on why free speech is so important on campus
Here at the FIRE office, we practice what we preach. Much like the cases that come through our door, our staff run the gamut of the political and ideological spectrum. Needless to say, office debates are commonplace and we hardly agree on anything. One of the few things that brings us all together is a steadfast belief in the importance of free speech and the open exchange of ideas.
Colleges and universities exist to act as a true “marketplace of ideas,” where views are challenged and debate flourishes. Through our various roles at FIRE, we work hard to make sure free [...] » Read More
Category: Newsdesk, Top Story, Video
Berkeley: Then and now (VIDEO)
Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the University of California, Berkeley faculty senate vote which, at the urging of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, reformed the institution’s policies on campus expression. In 1964, the students who participated in the movement demanded that Berkeley respect their First Amendment rights. The result was a revolution for student rights on campuses across the country.
On this anniversary, we take a look back at the Berkeley Free Speech Movement to see if it can lend any insights into the free speech controversies that roiled Berkeley’s campus this year.
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Category: Newsdesk, Top Story, Video Schools: University of California, Berkeley
Announcing a weekly FIRE video series: FIREside Chats
We are excited to announce a new series of weekly video conversations with FIRE staff where we candidly discuss the top student and faculty rights stories of the day.
In our first episode of FIREside Chats, Will Creeley moderates a discussion about the Anthony Scaramucci controversy at Tufts University with Brynne Madway and Adam Steinbaugh. Afterward, they are joined by Marieke Tuthill Beck-Coon for a conversation about student surveillance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
New episodes of FIREside Chats will be uploaded to our YouTube channel every week.
Don’t miss an episode: » Read More
Category: Newsdesk, Top Video, Video Schools: University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Tufts University
Fencing in free speech at Los Angeles Pierce College (VIDEO)
California is supposed to embody the American dream of self determination, but as one community college student discovered, reality doesn’t always live up to our dreams.
Los Angeles Pierce College student Kevin Shaw learned this lesson the hard way in November 2016 when he was distributing Spanish-language copies of the U.S. Constitution and recruiting new members for his student group, Young Americans for Liberty, along the main public walkway on Pierce’s campus. Shortly after he began, a Pierce administrator approached and told him that he could not distribute literature outside of the “free speech area,” an ironically named zone [...] » Read More
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Viewpoint diversity on campus: A Heterodox Academy & FIRE panel discussion [UPDATED]
The event was sponsored by Heterodox Academy, FIRE, and So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast to address some fundamental questions about today’s academy, such as:
Category: Newsdesk, Top Video, Video
Whistleblowers on campus (VIDEO)
What happens to faculty who speak out about administrative misconduct on their campuses and face retaliation? FIRE sat down with professors who say it happened to them.
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Category: Newsdesk, Top Video, Video
‘The Talk’: How to ‘do’ free speech (VIDEO)
Since James Madison first drafted the First Amendment in 1789, free speech has been a fundamental right for all Americans. But how do we do it?
FIRE’s 2017 summer interns sit us down and give us “The Talk.”
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Category: Newsdesk, Top Story, Top Video, Video
