Search for: "Keith E. Whittington"
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25 Feb 2023, 5:29 am
[Some of the proposals pose real threats to free inquiry] At the end of January, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference to announce a package of higher education reforms. I noted at the time that the details would matter, but that there was cause for concern. We now have some details in the form of House Bill 999. If anything, the current bill is worse than the bullet points the governor outlined a few weeks ago. The text of HB 999 can be found here. Hopefully the bill will be… [read post]
31 Jan 2023, 12:20 pm
[The Florida governor unveiled some big new ideas -- not all of them good] Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference this morning to discuss his proposed higher education reforms. His office also released a statement and a handout summarizing his proposals to combat "academic discrimination and indoctrination." For several of these proposals, the details will matter—a lot. Nonetheless, the bare outline is significant, even if some of these items wind up looking better, or… [read post]
6 Jul 2022, 9:01 am
[A conversation with Eugene Volokh about the Shapiro controversy and political statements by university leaders] A new episode of The Academic Freedom Podcast from the Academic Freedom Alliance is now available. Subscribe through your favorite platform so you don't miss an episode. In this episode, I talk with co-blogger and First Amendment expert Eugene Volokh about a couple of recent blog posts. He recently wrote about the report of the Georgetown University Office of Institutional Diversity,… [read post]
29 Mar 2022, 4:30 am
[Campus administratve unit crosses a line in campaign to shame a sitting member of the faculty] The Academic Freedom Alliance released a public letter to Princeton University calling on the university to reaffirm the academic freedom of classics professor Joshua Katz. On July 8, 2020, Professor Joshua Katz published an opinion piece in an online journal reacting to the July 4th public letter signed by many members of the Princeton faculty. In that piece he criticized a student group that had… [read post]
7 Feb 2022, 5:18 pm
Over the weekend, the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education jumped on a story out of George Washington University. Someone had posted on campus an Olympic themed poster highlighting the Chinese government's human rights abuses. Some students denounced the poster as offensive and beyond the bounds of tolerable free speech. A Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement administrator jumped into action. The president of the university pledged to find the perpetrators of this "terrible… [read post]
3 Feb 2022, 10:43 am
[The AFA calls on SUNY Fredonia to reaffirm the academic freedom of Professor Stephen Kershnar] The Academic Freedom Alliance released a public letter to SUNY Fredonia calling on the university to reaffirm the academic freedom of philosophy professor Stephen Kershnar. Kershnar works on applied ethics and writes on a wide range of controversial topics, including "adult-child sex." His research includes a scholarly monograph dedicated to that subject published by an academic press. He… [read post]
26 Jan 2022, 1:01 pm
I have an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer on the controversy surrounding Professor Amy Wax at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. You can see more about the current controversy here. My focus on the op-ed is on whether there is or should be a hate speech exception to academic freedom and tenure protections. Many of those who were calling for Penn to fire Wax for her comments on the Glenn Loury podcast have been arguing that hate speech is unprotected. This claim seems as misguided in this… [read post]
19 Jan 2022, 12:47 pm
[A conversation with two members of Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Freedom] A new episode of The Academic Freedom Podcast from the Academic Freedom Alliance is now available. Subscribe through your favorite platform so you don't miss an episode. In this episode I talk with Raymond Issa and Danaya Wright of the University of Florida. They are members of the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Freedom, which has released an interim report on academic freedom issues being… [read post]
16 Dec 2021, 9:42 am
[A conversation with the president of Claremont McKenna College, the school at the top of the free-speech rankings] A new episode of The Academic Freedom Podcast from the Academic Freedom Alliance is now available. Subscribe through your favorite platform so you don't miss an episode. In this episode I talk with Hiram Chodosh about the view from a university president's office on the campus free speech situation today. Chodosh is the president of Claremont McKenna College and a former dean… [read post]
16 Nov 2021, 7:01 am
[Some professors at UM think Bright Sheng got what he deserved and would like to do it to others as well] The University of Michigan opened this academic year with an academic freedom scandal. Music professor Bright Sheng showed his class the 1965 film of Othello with Laurence Olivier playing the Moor in dark makeup. Students demanded action. The university removed Sheng from the classroom and opened an investigation. The Academic Freedom Alliance condemned the university for violating Professor… [read post]
8 Jun 2023, 7:34 am
[Doctor sanctioned for comments to journalists about transgender athletes] The Academic Freedom Alliance released a public letter to the Mayo Clinic regarding the sanctions that it has imposed on Dr. Michael Joyner for his comments made in the media regarding transgender athletes and COVID. The Mayo Clinic claims to respect the academic freedom of its scholars but failed utterly in this case. Dr. Joyner's comments included in a New York Times article on the controversy surrounding the… [read post]
15 Sep 2022, 12:13 pm
[A conversation with the outgoing president of Purdue University and former Republican governor of Indiana.] A new episode of The Academic Freedom Podcast from the Academic Freedom Alliance is now available. Subscribe through your favorite platform so you don't miss an episode. In this episode, I talk with Mitch Daniels about the state of campus free speech, some initiatives at Purdue University, and the growing Republican hostility to universities. Daniels is the outgoing president of Purdue… [read post]
24 Feb 2022, 6:01 am
[A conversation with Matthew Finkin on the relationship between tenure and academic freedom] A new episode of The Academic Freedom Podcast from the Academic Freedom Alliance is now available. Subscribe through your favorite platform so you don't miss an episode. In this episode I talk with Matthew Finkin about Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick's call for abolishing tenure at state universities. Last week Patrick declared that he would make it a top priority in the next legislative session to… [read post]
3 Feb 2022, 7:51 am
[The AFA calls on Collin College to reinstate Professor Michael Phillips] The Academic Freedom Alliance released a public letter to Collin College objecting to its treatment of Professor Michael Phillips. Collin College has had a very bad run of late. It was just named by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education as one of the ten worst colleges for free speech. FIRE reached a settlement with Collin College for its actions in terminating history professor Lora Burnett for criticizing Mike… [read post]
20 Jan 2022, 5:30 am
[The law school has initiated disciplinary hearings against Professor Amy Wax stemming from her appearance on Glenn Loury's podcast] In December 2021, University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Amy Wax appeared on Glenn Loury's podcast. During that podcast, Wax called for a more restrictive immigration policy, and specifically argued that the United States should accept fewer immigrants from Asian countries. In response to a listener, Wax further elaborated on that position in a written… [read post]
10 Jan 2022, 8:19 am
I'm happy to announce the public launch of a new initiative at Princeton University. The Initiative on Freedom of Thought, Inquiry, and Expression will be under the umbrella of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. I'm grateful to JMP for hosting the initiative, and to Princeton University for giving its blessing to the project (though the initiative will rely on outside funds). I will be directing the Free Speech Initiative along with my colleague, Bernie Haykel.… [read post]
21 Dec 2021, 7:54 am
The University of Illinois at Chicago seems unable to correct course and respect the academic freedom commitments that it has made to its faculty. For a year, the university has been hounding one of its law professors, Jason Kilborn, at the behest of some of its students. The fracas started when Kilborn included a hypothetical on his civil procedure exam involving an individual telling an investigating lawyer that former co-workers "expressed their anger at Plaintiff, calling her a… [read post]
2 Dec 2021, 7:31 am
[A conversation with the chancellor of the University of California at Irvine about academic freedom] A new episode of The Academic Freedom Podcast from the Academic Freedom Alliance is now available. Subscribe through your favorite platform so you don't miss an episode. In this episode I talk with Howard Gillman about the view from a university president's office on the campus free speech situation today. Gillman is the chancellor of the University of California at Irvine and a former… [read post]
30 Nov 2021, 8:47 am
[English professor threatened with discipline for reading aloud from Randall Kennedy's article on the n-word] The Academic Freedom Alliance has released a public letter to the University of Rochester objecting to the treatment of an English professor there. Professor David Bleich has long taught classes dealing with sensitive subjects in race and gender. Those courses include readings that make use of offensive language. As is often the case, the details of the assigned texts need to be… [read post]
9 Aug 2025, 8:38 pm
[A bit of cold water on a popular Court "reform" from a justice on the left-wing of the Court] Rick Pildes at Election Law Blog calls attention to a post by Fix the Court that includes audio and some excerpts from an interview Justice Sotomayor did at the University of Zurich last year. Fix the Court -- a leading advocate of radical Court "reform" -- seems to want to spin Sotomayor's comments as good news, but Pildes points out that Sotomayor seems clearly skeptical of how… [read post]
