Table of Contents
Professors Have Free Speech, Too
John Miller at Phi Beta Cons criticizes proposed legislation in Arizona that would impose fines and lawsuits on professors who express their support for “one side of a social, political, or cultural issue that is a matter of partisan controversy.” While FIRE as an organization does not officially support or oppose legislation, bills like this one are a bad idea that, as Mr. Miller says, only serve as “speech codes for professors.” We definitely aren’t a fan of speech codes. As evidenced by Spotlight, FIRE’s enormous database of university policies affecting free speech, the majority of college campuses have onerous regulations that restrict expressive activity that should be protected under the First Amendment. Apparently, Arizona thinks the solution is to extend the trumping of free expression to the professoriate as well.
Mr. Miller’s solution to the squelching of free speech is that “the American Association of University Professors and other groups that defend the academic freedom of the tenured class should extend their principles to students, stand beside FIRE, and attack speech codes that limit free speech.” We agree. The college campus should be a place for the unfettered exchange of ideas and opinions. Efforts by legislatures and administrations to reign in free expression do a disservice to the faculty they hire and the students under their academic care.
Recent Articles
FIRE’s award-winning Newsdesk covers the free speech news you need to stay informed.
FIRE statement on Gov. Abbott’s campus anti-Semitism executive order
State-mandated campus censorship violates the First Amendment and will not effectively answer anti-Semitism.
May public officials block critics on social media? It depends, says the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court decisions vindicated FIRE on public officials’ use of personal social media accounts.
She’s back! Strossen’s new and updated edition of ‘Defending Pornography’ — First Amendment News 417
First Amendment News is a weekly blog and newsletter about free expression issues by Ronald K. L. Collins and is editorially independent from FIRE.
Cornell concedes small changes to otherwise substantially restrictive new speech policies
Cornell’s ‘Year of Free Expression’ is shaping up as a mixed bag — at best.