Destroying Free Speech to Save It

BY JOHN K. WiLSON Tony Woodlief in the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 30 offered a conservative critique of free speech absolutism, claiming that “the intolerance prevailing on college campuses isn’t the result of too little speech. It’s a consequence of too much speech.” Woodlief represents a disturbing trend on the right, where a sneer…

From the History of the University of Chicago

BY HANK REICHMAN Recently a minor brouhaha has emerged over the “Chicago Principles,” shorthand for the University of Chicago’s 2015 “Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression.”  The Principles have been endorsed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and several dozen universities, but dismissed as a “marketing ploy” by others.  Then,…

Statement of Concerned U. of Chicago Faculty in Support of Graduate Students United

POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following statement is reposted from the website of the University of Chicago chapter of the AAUP.  Statement of Concerned Faculty in Support of Graduate Students United The University of Chicago’s campaign against graduate student unionization has significantly damaged the integrity of the University both morally and intellectually. In his February…

Why Banning Bannon Is Bad

BY JOHN K. WILSON This morning, about 100 student protesters at the University of Chicago (including UChicago YDSA, UChicago Student Action, UChicago Socialists, and Students Working Against Prisons) chanted “Disinvite! Disinvite! Disinvite!” and demanded that the administration ban an invitation from University of Chicago business professor Luigi Zingales for Steve Bannon to speak on campus. As…

America’s Worst Newspaper Columnist?

BY HANK REICHMAN When the New York Times first announced in April that it was adding former Wall Street Journal conservative writer Bret Stephens to its stable of op-ed columnists — which already included the unctuous moralism of Ross Douthat and the simplistic pseudo-sociology of David Brooks — alarm bells went off.  David Roberts on…

U. of Chicago Administration Stands Against Free Expression for its Graduate Students

BY YALI AMIT, ANTON FORD, ELAINE HADLEY, AND DENIS HIRSCHFELDT The following piece was written by these members of the University of Chicago faculty:  Yali Amit, Professor of Statistics; Anton Ford, Associate Professor of Philosophy; Elaine Hadley, Professor of English; and Denis Hirschfeldt, Professor of Mathematics. Graduate student employees at the university will vote tomorrow…