Free Speech on Campus - Page 3

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) says that censorship at U.S. colleges and universities has increased during the coronavirus pandemic, as students transferred from the classroom to Zoom.

Valparaiso University announced on Thursday that it is dropping its “Crusader” mascot, stating that the term has been associated with “hate groups” and “hate speech.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is calling out the University of Colorado Boulder for violating the First Amendment by punishing a visiting professor who spoke at the “Save America March” on January 6  in Washington DC.

Harvard students are calling on the university to revoke the degrees of anyone who is affiliated with President Donald Trump. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany are all targets of the student’s petition.

University of Cincinnati Professor John Ucker may not return to the classroom in the spring over his use of the term “Chinese virus” in an email he sent to students in September. Ucker was placed on leave in September after the email went viral on Twitter.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is celebrating the end of the University of Texas’s bias response team, a university mechanism that has been used to suppress politically incorrect speech. A similar “bias response” team at the University of Michigan was shut down after a First Amendment activist group alleged that it stifled speech on campus.

A Montana high school has announced that it will reinstate a Christian student club after it was removed from the school’s list of recognized student organizations in 2019. The high school reversed its decision after Alliance Defending Freedom threatened to take legal action.

The U.S. Department of Education recently launched a “free speech hotline” for students that are being deprived of their First Amendment rights at public universities and colleges around the nation. Students are also encouraged to email a dedicated email set up by the department to report censorship by administrators, professors, and students on campus.

30 student organizations at Carnegie Mellon University have signed a letter urging administrators to cut ties with former Trump administration official Ric Grenell, who joined the university this year as a fellow at its Institute for Politics and Strategy. Grenell served as the acting Director of National Intelligence in 2020 after serving as Ambassador to Germany. Among other charges, students accuse Grenell of “sinophobia,” or anti-Chinese sentiment.

A new study by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) found that 88 percent of American colleges maintain policies that restrict speech protected under the First Amendment, and that half of top American colleges and universities maintain policies that restrict online expression protected under First Amendment standards.

The University of Chicago has defended a professor that was recently attacked by students for criticizing the university’s efforts to promote diversity and inclusion. In a statement, University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer reaffirmed the university’s commitment to free expression.

Stanford Professor David Palumbo-Liu has been named the head of the “Committee on Campus Climate, Community, and Speech.” In 2017, Palumbo-Lui co-founded the “Campus Antifascist Network,” an organization that has referred to by Stanford conservatives as a “bona fide Antifa group.”

A recent report from the Harvard student newspaper claimed that 90 percent of the freshman class preferred Joe Biden to Donald Trump in November’s presidential election. As one conservative student explains, “I was well aware that I was going to be in the extreme minority, and that I just have to learn to live with that.”

Jones County Junior College (JCJC) in Ellisville, Mississippi, settled a lawsuit last week with former student Michael Brown, who sued JCJC last year after the school threatened students with arrest for exercising their First Amendment rights on campus. The college also agreed to pay $40,000 for attorneys’ fees and damages.

The University of Miami College Republicans group is praising the university this week over its commitment to free speech on campus. In October, university president Julio Fenk argued that the vandalism of a pro-Trump campus display was an “unacceptable act of disrespect” that ran against the university’s emphasis on the free and open exchange of ideas.

Professor Daniel Ravicher of the University of Miami Law School says that he may be fired over pro-Trump social media posts that he published in the days following the presidential election. The dean of the law school reportedly told Ravicher that he must apologize and retract his comments if he wants to return to teach in the spring.

A dean at Virginia Wesleyan University in Norfolk, Virginia, resigned this week over a Facebook post in which he condemned Joe Biden supporters. Dean Paul Ewell argued that Biden supporters are “ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian” in a Facebook post published last week that was highlighted on Twitter by President Donald Trump.

A professor at Portland State University reportedly removed autistic student Lindy Treece from the classroom over her use of the word “snowflake.” After the student’s attorney pressed the university for an explanation, Portland State quickly reversed course and allowed Treece to return to her classes.

Over 1,000 business professors from American universities and colleges around the country have signed a letter that urges America’s business leaders to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in Tuesday’s presidential election. The letter claims that President Donald Trump poses a “threat to the Republic.”

A recent letter penned by Harvard University President Larry Bacow details the university’s plan to potentially rename dozens of campus buildings. The plan was conceived after some members of the Harvard community expressed concerns that some buildings are named after historical figures with questionable pasts.

The Student Supreme Court at Florida State University reinstated student government leader Jack Denton, who had been removed from his position over his Catholic faith. In October, a federal judge ordered the university to pay Denton the salary he was owed for his role as student senate president.

Leftists at the University of Oklahoma are trying to cancel an upcoming lecture by conservative commentator Ann Coulter scheduled to take place on campus in November. The students claim it would be inappropriate for the university to allow a “voice of hate” to speak on campus.

The University of California system spent over $800,000 on legal fees during a court battle with a student-led satirical newspaper that came under fire in 2016 when it mocked “safe spaces.” The ACLU filed a lawsuit in 2016 against the University of California over its decision to strip the student newspaper of its university funding. This week, public records revealed that the university spent far more on fighting its students in court than it would have spent if it had simply funded the paper.

Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has fired a professor over a discussion he held with students about the use of offensive language. Students complained to administrators after Professor Gary Shank used a racial slur during the discussion about inappropriate language.

The attorney for a Fordham University student that was disciplined by administrators over a photo he posted to Instagram alleged in a recent court filing that the University has undisclosed ties to foreign nations, including China. Over the past several months, reports have revealed that many top universities and colleges have accepted multi-million donations from foreign governments.

An administrator at USC recently defended the university’s decision to investigate a professor over his use of the Chinese word for “um” during an online lecture. Professor Greg Patton was placed on leave after students complained that a Chinese word used by Patton sounded like an English-language racial slur. According to the university, using a common Chinese word during a discussion of cross-cultural communication is a “polarizing example.”

The Georgia Institute of Technology settled a lawsuit with the Students for Life group this week over the university’s refusal to fund an event with Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As a result of the lawsuit, the university has revised its policies to ensure that funding for student groups will be awarded in a “viewpoint-neutral” manner.

Actor-comedian Rob Schneider called out three of the left’s most powerful institutions — Silicon Valley, the mainstream corporate media, and universities — in a series of frank tweets posted this week as part of what appeared to be an impromptu Q&A session with his fans.

Skidmore College Professor David Peterson announced this week that he and his wife won’t be sanctioned by the college for his attendance at a “Back the Blue” rally in July. Students had called for Peterson and his wife to be terminated by the college for attending the pro-police rally.

Baylor University admitted this week that it regrets its decision to place a “sensitive content” warning sign next to a 9/11 memorial consisting of American flags that was put together by the Young Conservatives of Texas. A university spokesperson said that the sign was placed in an effort to protect students that might have a strong emotional reaction to the display.

The University of North Texas announced recently that it has launched an investigation into the campus chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas. The investigation was prompted by complaints by at least one student who claimed that the conservative student organization made them feel “unsafe.”

An ACLU official based in Kentucky criticized Transylvania University’s decision to admit Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic student who found himself at the center of a media frenzy in January 2019 after a viral encounter with a Native American protester in Washington, D.C.

Students at UCLA are calling for the removal of Eli Gafni, the chair of the computer science department, over his defense of a colleague’s use of the term “Wuhan virus.” Gafni told students that were upset by the term that “what is ‘sensitive’ to you might feel like PC police to others,” leading to the petition for his removal over “ethical” failures.

Professor Greg Patton of USC is taking a “short term pause” after he was criticized for using a Chinese word during an online lecture. Students argued that the common Chinese word sounds like a racial slur, resulting in Patton’s removal from the course pending a university investigation.

Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, quietly removed statues of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin from campus in July over concerns that they would be vandalized by protesters. The university also feared that having a statue of Thomas Jefferson would become a “target or an embarrassment” for alumni. Statues of Jefferson have recently been targeted by vandals on campuses and in parks around the country.

Syracuse University Professor Jon Zubieta was placed on leave this week after students complained about his use of the term “Wuhan flu” a syllabus for a Chemistry course. In the syllabus, Zubieta also referred to the virus as the “Chinese Communist Party Virus.” According to the university, Zubieta’s language is “offensive to Chinese, international and Asian-Americans everywhere.”