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Why we fight

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The author is FIRE’s Chairman of the Board.

With 2019 coming to a close, I’m writing to thank you for supporting FIRE and to ask you to give once again before the end of the year.

If you’ve already made a year-end gift, I’m deeply grateful. Because of your support, thousands of students and faculty will enjoy and exercise their free speech rights and civil liberties. Your commitment to us is a commitment to them.

For 20 years, thanks to your support, FIRE has helped students and faculty facing serious violations of their civil liberties — many times with lifelong repercussions for their personal lives, their careers, or both. Time and again, because of you, FIRE was able to be there and help make it right.

Today, FIRE continues to be there with the experience, the resources, and the hard-earned reputation for defending anyone who needs defending.

If it’s within FIRE’s mission, we help. 

No politics. 

No hidden agenda. 

Just a focused, principled commitment to civil liberties.

Over the last 20 years, FIRE has fielded more than 10,000 case submissions from students, professors, and staff on university campuses — fellow citizens whose basic constitutional rights were violated.

And we’ve read and responded to every single one.

It’s a battle we’re happy to join side by side with you, which is why we can’t fight without your support. Can you make a generous, tax-deductible, year-end donation today? You can donate online at thefire.org/donate. 

I believe that supporting FIRE is one of the best investments you can possibly make in defending freedom. We’ve freed over 4.7 million student voices from speech codes — and ensured faculty have their academic freedom rights — by combing through thousands of policies, writing letters, filing lawsuits, persuading administrators, and building bipartisan support in state and federal legislatures.

It’s clear today that the need for an organization like FIRE is greater than ever.

I can’t thank you enough for standing with us — and for helping FIRE burn bright for civil liberties on America’s college campuses for 20 years. I hope you will consider renewing your commitment to liberty by making a year-end gift today. 

For however long these rights may need defending, with your generous support, FIRE will be there.

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