POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following is from the Washington Post: A high school student was suspended for “disrespect” after he called his congressman’s office and told lawmakers — as he recalls it — to “get off their f‑‑‑— asses” and pass gun-control laws. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) has defended his staff member for reporting 17-year-old Noah…
BY JOHN K. WILSON A funny thing happened during comedian Hannibal Buress’s set at Loyola University of Chicago on March 17: The Administration cut off his mic. And then when Buress tried to continue his performance unamplified, the Administration turned up the music to drown him out. Eventually, Buress was allowed to return to the…
BY HANK REICHMAN Two recent U.S. appellate court rulings, from the U.S Courts of Appeal for the Ninth and Fourth Circuits, mark victories for the free speech rights of striking teachers and of students. In the Ninth Circuit case, Eagle Point Education Association/SOBC/OEA; Dave Carrell; Staci Boyer v. Jackson County School District No. 9, decided…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This post is a response to an article written by Susan Svriuga for the Washington Post. Titled “’Antifa Is Winning’: Richard Spencer Rethinks His College Tour after Violent Protests,” the article is a report on the protests that prevented Spencer from speaking at Michigan State University. A group called “Stop Spencer…
BY HANK REICHMAN Yesterday I had the privilege and pleasure of participating in a terrific panel discussion of “Academic Freedom in an Age of Political Polarization” at the Albert Shanker Institute in Washington, D.C. My fellow panelists were Sigal Ben-Porath, Professor of Education, Political Science and Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and author of…
BY HANK REICHMAN To hear more than a few right-wing politicians and pompous pundits tell it, the greatest problem in American higher education today is that free speech on campus is on life support, especially when it comes to the speech of prominent conservatives and especially at places like the University of.California at Berkeley, home…
BY KEITH E. WHITTINGTON Guest blogger, Keith E. Whittington, is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University and the author of Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech. The spring semester got off to a somewhat rocky start at Princeton University when a number of students walked out of a class…
POSTED BY KELLY HAND In his article recently published in the January–February issue of Academe magazine, “A New Reality? The Far Right’s Use of Cyberharassment against Academics,” Joshua A. Cuevas offers a firsthand account of being targeted by malicious online attacks using fabricated information. In counteracting these efforts to sabotage his professional reputation, Cuevas documented the…
BY SAMANTHA EYLER-DRISCOLL As Senior Editor at the Stigler Center and its publication ProMarket, and one of six members of the ProMarket editorial board, I have opposed since its inception the proposal by my colleague Luigi Zingales to provide a platform to Steve Bannon at the Stigler Center, as well as the use of ProMarket…
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…