BY JOHN K. WILSON I interviewed Henry Reichman, chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, about his new book, The Future of Academic Freedom (Johns Hopkins University Press). Reichman will discuss his book on a panel at the AAUP’s Annual Conference on June 13, 2019 in Arlington, Virginia and other future…
BY HANK REICHMAN Be forewarned! This post is an act of shameless self-promotion. That’s because it announces that today, April 2, is the official publication date of my new book The Future of Academic Freedom. Consisting of ten interlinked essays–the publisher, Johns Hopkins University Press, calls them “audacious”–the book “aims to bring to discussions of…
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,…
JANUARY 14 PROPOSAL DEADLINE: In the past year, free speech on campuses has become a focus of contentious debate and increased media scrutiny. Campus communities—including administrators, faculty, and students—generally embrace the concept of free speech yet lack a clear consensus about its limits. The AAUP invites proposals for presentations at its annual conference on the state…
BY HANK REICHMAN Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos delivered a commencement speech at the University of Baltimore yesterday, sparking protests from students, faculty, and members of the community. According to the Baltimore Sun, “Several dozen graduates slowly rose in protest as she spoke. First, two women in the front row — including one whose graduation…
BY HANK REICHMAN Tennessee, North Carolina, and Wisconsin have already enacted comprehensive new campus speech laws based on model legislation proposed by the Goldwater Institute, which in critical respects defend free speech by attacking it. (I discussed this legislation previously in a section of one of my lengthy posts on outside speakers, under the subtitle…
BY JOHN K. WILSON Judith Butler’s essay, “The Limits on Free Speech,” has attracted a great deal of attention and numerous comments. Because it deserves a more extensive response than I could make in a comment, I wanted to offer this in-depth reply. I think Butler makes two fundamental errors in her analysis. First, she…
BY HANK REICHMAN By now regular readers of this blog are probably aware that the long-floundering “Free Speech Week” that bigot-provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was allegedly “organizing” at the University of California at Berkeley this week has been canceled. Ever the blustering bozo, Milo, however, has vowed to speak on campus tomorrow (Sunday) no matter what.…
BY HANK REICHMAN In all the hubbub over the free speech rights of outside speakers on campus, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that efforts by students and administrations at colleges and universities to bar those they deem controversial are hardly limited to right-wing provocateurs like Milo Yiannopoulos, Ann Coulter, or Richard Spencer. …
BY HANK REICHMAN Recently installed University of California at Berkeley (UCB) Chancellor Carol Christ has proclaimed this to be the campus’s “free speech year.” As part of that effort Christ has announced that the infamous bigot-provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, whose talk at Berkeley was canceled February 1 in the face of violent protests, would return to…