Table of Contents
Peter Wood on 'Affirmative Action Bake Sales'
National Association of Scholars President Peter Wood discusses "affirmative action bake sales," names several schools that have tried to censor them over the years in violation of students' freedom of speech (such as at University of California, Irvine and Bucknell), and presents his view of the larger context that too often leads administrators to try to censor and punish such political theater. "Any form of imposed civility that would try to foreclose offensive speech is doomed to fail," Wood says, "since all it does is establish the boundary that someone will break. ... When we recognize speech as offensive, we shouldn’t think that we have therefore anesthetized people against its sting. It will sting, at least if it is done right."
Recent Articles
FIRE’s award-winning Newsdesk covers the free speech news you need to stay informed.
FIRE statement on campus violence and arrests
FIRE is monitoring outbreaks of violence and arrests on campuses nationwide. Sadly, we must again restate a bedrock principle: Violence is never acceptable.
BREAKING: New Title IX regulations undermine campus free speech and due process rights
New Title IX regulations encourage colleges to violate free speech rights and to eliminate essential due process protections.
STATEMENT: Title IX regs mean students less likely to receive justice
FIRE's mission is to defend and sustain the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought—the most essential qualities of liberty.