Campus Free Speech
Lawsuit by Khymani James ("Be Grateful That I'm Not Just Going Out and Murdering Zionists") Against Columbia Dismissed
As to James' discrimination claim, "James, who was on disciplinary probation leading up to the suspension, admits that Columbia suspended students involved in the encampment and fails to identify another student, who was also on disciplinary probation, whom Columbia declined to discipline."
UNC Non-Tenure-Track Professor's Nonrenewal Upheld
"[Students] reported that the course content did not align with its description in the course catalog; that the course was poorly organized and 'essentially was a stream of consciousness conversation' about Dr. Chavis's personal issues; and that Dr. Chavis humiliated certain students because of, for example, their race and fraternity affiliation."
'Unmasking, Naming, and Shaming': This Academic Freedom Group Is Pushing for Campus Censorship
Public records obtained by City Journal show the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom has taken a bizarrely censorial approach to its mission.
New Study Finds Average College Professor 'Only Slightly Less Left' Than Bernie Sanders
FIRE's data suggest that the range of opinions at American universities is far too narrow.
DoJ Sues UCLA for Allegedly Tolerating Discrimination and Harassment Against Jews and Israelis, Seeks Return of Federal Grants
The lawsuit asks the court to (among many other things) "Rescind and award to the United States restitution of all grant payments made to UCLA during the time of UCLA’s noncompliance with Title VI."
Law School Recommended Against Student's Bar Admission, Partly for Alleged "Celebration" of Charlie Kirk Assassination in Law School Clinic
The student sued seeking to undo the reprimand and report to the bar, but a federal court concluded that this particular remedy is barred by state sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment/
Lawsuit Against UW Social Work School Over Retaliation for Allegedly Anti-Trans Essay Can Go Forward
According to plaintiff, “[Prof.] Harner believed Plaintiff’s planned zine project [class assignment] was on ‘the issue of ‘trans’ people sexually assaulting others in prison,’ a topic Harner found ‘so many issues with.’”
Yale Admits Self-Censorship and Political Bias Are Eroding Trust in Higher Education
The Ivy League school released a self-critical report this week.
In Poisoned Ivies, Stefanik Sees Censorship as a Cure for 'Anti-Americanism'
What is a greater rejection of America's founding ideals than an overreaching government trampling the First Amendment?
UNC Newspaper Halts Satire and Implements DEI Training After Backlash Over April Fools' Issue
Free speech lawyers say UNC violated North Carolina’s institutional neutrality law.
Allegations of Conspiracy Between Univ. of S. Florida and Jewish Groups, Brought by Students for Democratic Society Chapter, Rejected
"In essence, the plaintiffs argue that every time a Jew or Jewish organization contributes to (in this instance) a public university and that university, acting under established policy, disciplines a student who advocates for, in this instance, 'particularly Palestinian" policies, the simultaneous presence of the contribution and the discipline creates a plausible inference of a conspiracy between the contributor and the university to punish the "particularly Palestinian' advocate."
Ron DeSantis Clamps Down on Free Speech in the Name of Fighting Terror
A new Florida law would allow state leaders to designate certain groups as terror organizations.
DOJ Files Civil Rights Lawsuit Against Harvard, Citing Campus Antisemitism
The Trump administration wants its federal funding back from Harvard, alleging the Ivy League university did "nothing" about campus antisemitism.
Philosophy Prof, Discussion of Adult-Child Sex Bans, and the First Amendment
SUNY Fredonia philosophy professor had been barred from campus over podcast questioning illegality and immorality of adult-child sexual contact; a federal court has just allowed his First Amendment claim to go forward.
Ohio State Student's Posts Urging "Resistance and Escalation" in Response to Israel's Actions in Gaza Protected by First Amendment
So holds a court, reversing student Guy Christensen's "disenrollment." The student also wrote, responding to the murder of two Israeli embassy employees in D.C. outside the Capital Jewish Museum, "I do not condemn the elimination of those two Zionist officials."
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.
