BY JOHN F. COVALESKIE In “Speech, Academic Freedom, and Privilege,” in the current issue of the Journal of Academic Freedom, I argue that “colleges and universities should actively place themselves on the side of victims of systems of oppression.” Over the last couple of generations, a movement has developed to make college campuses more welcoming…
BY JOHN K. WILSON In the vast pantheon of loathsome lackeys serving Donald Trump, Sean Spicer is still a star figure. His obsequious devotion to Trump and indifference to the truth reached legendary status. This week, Spicer begins his $125,000 stint on “Dancing With the Stars” where everyone expects his stumbling on the dance floor…
BY HANK REICHMAN Leon Wofsy, Emeritus Professor of Immunology in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California at Berkeley, died August 25 at the age of 97. Although I have been a graduate student and instructor at Berkeley and lived most of my adult life within a mile or two…
BY HANK REICHMAN The tendency of right-wing “free speech warriors” to apply one standard to speech they agree with and vow to defend, and another less liberal standard to speech they don’t like is well-documented, even old news. In April John Wilson reported here how even as Republicans rallied behind President Trump’s phony executive order…
BY HANK REICHMAN Discussing targeted online harassment of faculty members in The Future of Academic Freedom, I wrote: It’s not only faculty; students too may become targets. For example, “after American University elected the first African-American woman to lead its student body, the white supremacist leader who founded one of the largest hate sites on…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an important decision for freedom of the press and free speech on campus in The Koala v. Khosla, reversing a deeply mistaken lower court ruling. The 9th Circuit ruled that a public university cannot ban funding to student publications, particularly not in reaction…
BY ROBERT CHERNY On June 25, 2019, the San Francisco school board voted unanimously to either paint out or cover with solid panels the thirteen separate murals that make up The Life of Washington, a WPA-funded art project by Victor Arnautoff. The board’s decision came after several years of advocacy led by the district’s American…
BY HANK REICHMAN Shortly after my most recent contribution to this blog, “On Commencement Speakers,” was posted, John Wilson offered the following comment in response: I’ve never participated in a commencement and only attended one in my life, because I find them boring and silly. The commencement address is the only potential exception to this…
BY HANK REICHMAN Commencement season has come to a close for another year, so perhaps it is a good time to reflect on the sometimes thorny issue of the extent to which challenges to commencement speakers, especially those invited to receive an honorary degree, represent a threat to free speech or academic freedom. As Princeton…
BY JOHN K. WILSON This afternoon, Oberlin College was hit by a jury with $33 million in punitive damages added on to the June 7 judgment of $11.2 million for defamation. (The punitive damages will probably be reduced to $22.4 million under state law, but perhaps $10 million in plaintiff legal fees will also be…