Table of Contents
FIRE's Shibley in ‘Forbes’ on Harvard E-mail Scandal
FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley offers his thoughts on the Harvard University e-mail scandal for Forbes this morning. Criticizing Harvard's emphasis on public relations at the expense of faculty privacy, Robert writes:
If a liberal arts education is supposed to be a "marketplace of ideas," putting message control above all else is anathema. Students and faculty members must be free to explore ideas and to criticize bad decisions, or the marketplace will not function. They can't do that if they believe that Harvard is going to read their email if they happen to forward something that makes life harder for the university's PR folks.
Check out Robert's entry in full.
Recent Articles
Get the latest free speech news and analysis from FIRE.
TICKETS ON SALE: Step up to the Soapbox in Philadelphia, Nov. 4-6, 2026
Tickets on sale for Soapbox 2026 in Philly! Nov. 4–6. Fearless debates, bold speakers, and a gala celebrating free speech at America’s 250th.
The secret war against student journalists
Across the country, colleges are using conduct hearings to punish student reporters for basic newsgathering — chilling who gets to tell campus stories.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (of protected speech)
The FBI is probing Signal chats that track ICE activity — without evidence of a crime. That’s not law enforcement. It’s a First Amendment problem.
The paper was her lifeboat — UMD called it interference
She founded a Muslim student paper for community. Now UMD calls her reporting on a protest “interference” — and is pursuing discipline.