We recently discussed how faculty and administrators at schools like the University of Wisconsin have opposed polling students about the loss of free speech out of fear that the results could be used to pass new legislation supporting viewpoint diversity. Iowa recently passed just such legislation and it has produced its first change in funding. The Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Iowa State University reluctantly was granted funding from the student government after university legal counsel informed them that they could not withhold financial support to the conservative group.

Continue reading “Iowa State Students Forced to Fund Conservative Group Under New Law” →

There is a new free speech lawsuit on a college campus this week after three University of Houston students sued over a new anti-discrimination policy. The students are unnamed in the complaint, which was brought by Speech First. They alleged that they are chilled in expressing their views on issues like gender because they are now treated as forms of discrimination or harassment. Continue reading “University of Houston Students Sue Over Campus Speech Code” →

UCLA is facing a new free speech controversy after its Director of Race and Equity, Jonathan Perkins, tweeted that he (like many) hoped Justice Clarence Thomas would die rather than recover from his recent illness. UCLA recently disciplined a student for controversial statements, but has stood by the right of Perkins to express such hateful viewpoints. Ironically, Perkins’ office has long posted anti-free speech positions to justify censorship and speech codes.

Continue reading ““[We all] Hope Clarence Thomas Dies”: UCLA Faces New Free Speech Controversy Over Social Media” →

We have been discussing how academics and students now define blocking speech or shouting down speakers to be an exercise of free speech. It is the very denial of free speech but also violates the rules of many universities. Yet, administrators are either supportive of such cancelling efforts or fearful in being tagged the next racist or reactionary by a mob. So we have scenes like the one at Yale Law School where students disrupted a conservative speaker and required the intervention of campus police to safely remove the speakers. It is particularly distressing to see such scenes unfold at law schools where free speech was once taught as a defining right in our system. As shown recently at Georgetown Law School, free speech is often portrayed today more as a threat rather than a guarantee in our system. Indeed, Yale students later complained that the police presence at the event created an unsafe space for students as they disrupted the event. Police were needed to escort the speakers safely out of the event.

Continue reading “Yale Law Students Disrupt Conservative Speaker . . . Then Object to the Presence of Police as Creating an Unsafe Environment” →

Professor J. Angelo Corlett is a philosophy professor who has won multiple teaching awards at San Diego State University (SDSU) for his teaching of classes like “Critical Thinking and Composition” and “Philosophy, Racism and Justice” classes. Those classes often raise the use of racial terminology, which Corlett references in class. After a complaint from students, however, he has been removed from two of his three classes without any prior opportunity to fully present his case and explain his pedagogy. What was particularly concerning was a university statement that such removals are not matters of free speech or academic freedom.

Continue reading “SDSU Professor Removed from Courses for Using Racial Terms in Course on Racism” →