From Christensen v. Carter, decided today by Judge Edmund Sargus (S.D. Ohio): Mr. Christensen enrolled at OSU as an undergraduate student in the fall of 2024. At that…
Read more Ohio State Student’s Posts Urging “Resistance and Escalation” in Response to Israel’s Actions in Gaza Protected by First AmendmentThis year, the fight over free expression in American higher education reached a troubling milestone. According to data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, efforts to…
Read more Push for Censorship on Campus Hit Record Levels in 2025 | RealClearPoliticsPresident Donald Trump often channels former President Ronald Reagan, down to his signature slogan, “make America great again.” But Judge William Young, who was appointed by Reagan himself,…
Read more Reagan-appointed judge slams Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian studentsTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton will investigate reports that Texas Christian University canceled an event planned by the school’s chapter of Turning Point USA, he said on social…
Read more Texas AG Ken Paxton to investigate TCU’s handling of Turning Point USA eventToday, in AAUP v. Rubio, federal district Judge William G. Young (appointed by Ronald Reagan) ruled that speech-based deportations of foreign students and academics violate the First Amendment.…
Read more Federal Court Rules Speech-Based Deportations of Non-Citizen Students and Academics Violate the First AmendmentNA Below is a video of the panel on “Federal Efforts to Combat Antisemitism: Restoring Campus Civil Rights or Infringing Academic Freedom?” from the recent Education Law and…
Read more Video of Education Law and Policy Panel on “Federal Efforts to Combat Antisemitism: Restoring Campus Civil Rights or Infringing Academic Freedom?”Timing is everything. As I explain in my book Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech, the overlap in…
Read more “Authoritarians in the Academy”: The National Security Law and the Shuttering of Academic Freedom in Hong KongThere are many ways that universities interact with the wider world, whether by coordinating study abroad programs or welcoming students from dozens of countries onto their campuses. But…
Read more “Authoritarians in the Academy”: Satellite Campuses and the Perils of Local LawI’m delighted to report that Sarah McLaughlin (of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) will be guest-blogging this coming week about her new book. From the publisher’s…
Read more Sarah McLaughlin (FIRE) on “Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech,”The article is here; the Introduction: The United States is in a difficult moment: what basic faith there was in the institutions of democracy has been eroded, constitutional…
Read more Journal of Free Speech Law: “Academic Freedom & the Politics of the University,” by Joan Wallach ScottAs yesterday’s post noted, the injunction provides, [1.] Defendants [UCLA officials] … are prohibited from offering any ordinarily available programs, activities, or campus areas to students if Defendants…
Read more UCLA Appeals Yesterday’s Preliminary Injunction That Ordered It to Avoid Repetition of Exclusion of Jewish or Pro-Israel Students from Parts of CampusAs I’ve noted before, public universities have considerable authority to impose content-neutral rules on demonstrations, for instance prohibiting overnight campouts, restricting sound amplification, and so on. But of…
Read more FIRE’s Response to Police Dispersing Pro-Palestinian Protesters at UT AustinAn excerpt from his column in yesterday’s N.Y. Times: Last Thursday, in the music humanities class I teach at Columbia University, two students were giving an in-class presentation…
Read more John McWhorter on the Columbia ProtestsTalia Khan, an MIT graduate student, had a detailed and powerful statement about what she sees as anti-Semitism on campus (apparently written in response to an invitation from…
Read more What Universities Should Punish and What They Shouldn'tI’ve heard some suggest that it’s proper for universities to expel students for publicly defending the Hamas murders. (This has included both public universities and private universities that…
Read more Speech Defending Attacks on Civilians: A Thought ExperimentI wrote about the court decision in favor of plaintiff back in August; now I see that the parties have settled, and are asking for court approval of…
Read more Settlement of University of Wyoming “God Created Male and Female and Artemis Langford Is a Male” CaseNewsweek (Matthew Impelli) reported today on this incident, which involved “a graduate student” instructor “at UC Berkeley’s Department of Ethnic Studies.” (The story may have been first broken…
Read more UC Berkeley Reverses Instructor’s Attempt to Give Extra Credit for Pro-Palestinian Political Activity
