Campus Free Speech
Constitutional to Expel Law Student for Writing "[W]hatever Harvard Professor Noel Ignatiev Meant by … '[A]bolish the White Race by Any Means Necessary' … Must Be Done with Jews"
An Eleventh Circuit panel concludes (by a 2-1 vote) that this is likely the right result.
The 9th Circuit Upholds a University of Washington Professor's Right to Mock 'Land Acknowledgments'
The appeals court ruled that administrators violated Stuart Reges' First Amendment rights when they investigated and threatened to punish him for constitutionally protected speech.
UW Professor's Parody of Land Acknowledgment in Class Syllabus Protected by First Amendment
"[I]n the public university setting, student disagreement with a professor's academic speech on an issue of public concern cannot alter the Pickering analysis in the government's favor."
How Foreign Governments Police U.S. Speech
Sarah McLaughlin reveals how foreign governments pressure American universities through speech codes and satellite campuses, and examines the broader threat international authoritarianism poses to free expression.
Plaintiff Can Add Claims to Case Alleging Carnegie Mellon Prof Said Time on Jewish-Related Project "Would Have Been Better Spent" Exploring "What Jews Do to Make Themselves Such a Hated Group"
One claim is that CMU's Chief Diversity Officer illegally recorded meeting with student and the accused professor—and then apparently "asserted her Fifth Amendment rights when ... asked her if she did so or if she had a pattern or practice of recording student meetings, without their consent, in the scope of her duties."
University's Apparent Concealment of Real Reasons for Non-Renewal of Adjunct Professor's Contract Suspended Statute of Limitations
"The [eventually released personnel] records contain no negative performance reviews, but they do contain three anonymous complaints. Those complaints accused Grossenbach of 'creat[ing] a hostile environment for transgender and LGBTQ students' in connection with his SaveCFSD activities [allegedly referring solely to Grossenbach's outside-class political activity -EV], among other things."
US News and World Report Article Urging Colleges to Reject Trump's "Compact" With Higher Education
I coauthored the article with four other legal scholars from across the political spectrum.
Campus Activism in the Wake of Charlie Kirk's Murder
Dr. Wolf von Laer and Sean Themea join Nick Gillespie to discuss how Kirk’s murder is reshaping student activism and where libertarian ideas fit in today’s campus climate.
Oxford Union Ousts President Over Insults to Charlie Kirk
The murder of an American activist tore apart Britain’s hallowed free speech club.
A Discussion of "Campus Free Speech After October 7" at NYU
The discussion of campus free speech that almost did not happen at NYU.
2 Controversies Over Political Rhetoric Illustrate the Perils of Blaming Gun Control Critics for Murder
That strategy, which rejects the possibility of sincere disagreement, is poisonous to rational debate.
Reagan-Appointed Judge Slams Trump's Crackdown on Pro-Palestinian Students
Judge William Young wrote a book-length order attacking “the problem this President has with the First Amendment.”
Federal Court Rules Speech-Based Deportations of Non-Citizen Students and Academics Violate the First Amendment
The decision is the most thorough in a line of recent court decisions reaching similar results.
Freddie deBoer: Charlie Kirk's Murder Reveals a Cultural Sickness
Writer Freddie deBoer discusses the assassination of Charlie Kirk and his theory of "spectacular acts of public violence" on the final episode of Just Asking Questions.
The New Wave of Faculty Terminations
My two recent pieces in Chronicle of Higher Education
"Authoritarians in the Academy": The Free Speech Recession
When universities are global institutions, the global speech environment matters.
College Students Across the Political Spectrum Support Shouting Down Opponents
Once a left-wing fetish, the heckler’s veto has gained conservative adherents.
West Texas A&M Drag Ban Defeated in Court
Obviously drag shows are protected by the First Amendment.
Trump Administration Sued for Violating Foreign Students' Free Speech Rights
The First Amendment protects everybody from the government, whether citizen or not.
America's Two-Front War on Science
Universities’ internal culture wars threaten free speech and inquiry, but political attacks on research funding and infrastructure are crippling U.S. scientific leadership.
A First Amendment Lawsuit Highlights the Chilling Impact of Speech-Based Deportation on Student Journalists
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is seeking an injunction that would protect noncitizens at The Stanford Daily from arrest and removal because of their published work.
Safe Spaces Are Coming Back to Brown University—All Thanks to Trump
The campus' settlement with the federal government is bound to create free speech headaches.
Defending Its Speech-Based Deportation Policy, the Trump Administration Says 'No Such Policy Exists'
The government's gaslighting strategy suggests that federal officials are not confident about the constitutionality of punishing students for expressing anti-Israel views.
The Trump Administration Says Its Speech-Based Deportation Policy 'Does Not Exist'
The government’s lawyers also say that supposedly nonexistent policy is perfectly consistent with the First Amendment.
$725K Settlement in University of North Texas Academic Freedom Case
The case settled while motions for summary judgment were pending; the plaintiff, Prof. Timothy Jackson, had prevailed against an earlier motion to dismiss, and the Fifth Circuit had also rejected defendants' appeal as to procedural matters.
