Against Street Protests

BY JOHN K. WILSON Like most Americans, I was sickened by the senseless violence and destruction across the country this weekend, just as I was sickened by the murder of George Floyd. In recounting the terrible acts this past week, let me start at the top, with the evil and incompetence of Donald Trump. In…

The Bad Ideas of the Wisconsin Regents

BY JOHN K. WILSON Is disrupting a speaker worse than rape? According to the University of Wisconsin Board or Regents policy passed last week, it is. Only one of them gets mandatory penalties. If a student is accused of rape, and even convicted of sexual misconduct twice, there is no requirement for an automatic suspension,…

Disruptive Conduct and the University of Chicago

BY JOHN K. WILSON The University of Chicago’s Committee on University Discipline for Disruptive Conduct has issued a new report. Peter Wood of the NAS praises the Chicago Report: “It is a welcome step for all of American higher education. Mostly it restores to the campus authorities charged with maintaining order the tools they need…

Berkeley Faculty Sign Letter Against Police Violence

Over 600 University of California at Berkeley faculty have signed this letter in protest of the police violence against the Occupy Cal demonstration: November 11, 2011 Open Letter to Chancellor Birgeneau, the UC Berkeley administration, and the UC Regents: We, the undersigned faculty, lecturers, and graduate student assistants—all of whom teach at Berkeley and are…

An Unjust Conviction at Irvine

A jury in Orange County today found 10 UC-Irvine and UC-Riverside students guilty of conspiring to disrupt a speech at Irvine by the Israeli ambassador to the US. I wrote about this case last year, when I objected to the collective punishment of a student group for what these individuals did: “it appears that the…