• May 13, 2013 / Free Speech

    The Atlantic’s Wendy Kaminer on Free Speech, Hate Speech, and Anti-Bullying Laws

    FIRE sits down with author, columnist, and FIRE Board of Advisors member Wendy Kaminer to talk about the state of free speech both on and off campus. “The irony is that you end up encouraging incivility because people don’t know how to argue. They don’t know what to do when confronted with an idea they really don’t like. They don’t have an administrator they go complain to, and so they just shout it down because they haven’t learned how to [...]

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  • May 13, 2013 / Free Speech

    Syracuse University Expels Student Over Facebook Comments

    Like FIRE on Facebook: http://facebook.com/thefireorg Follow FIRE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheFIREorg Subscribe to our email list: http://thefire.org/takeaction/subscribe/ “I was expelled from Syracuse University for comments that I posted on Facebook.” Syracuse University School of Education graduate student Matthew Werenczak was just trying to finish his masters degree early when he decided to take a summer course that involved tutoring at a local middle school. But after a comment he posted on Facebook about an experience he had at the school caught [...]

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  • May 13, 2013 / Free Speech

    A Brief History of Campus Censorship: An interview with Prof. Don Downs

    Like FIRE on Facebook: http://facebook.com/thefireorg Follow FIRE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheFIREorg Subscribe to our email list: http://thefire.org/takeaction/subscribe/ Don Downs is a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) and one of the nation’s leading defenders of academic freedom and free speech on campus. For years, Downs has led the Committee for Academic Freedom and Rights (CAFAR), the “go-to” organization for protecting student and faculty rights at UW. Downs’ work with CAFAR has resulted in a number of victories for individual rights [...]

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  • May 13, 2013 / Free Speech

    “The Incubator of the Nanny State:” Nick Gillespie on the Sorry Condition of Universities

    Like FIRE on Facebook: http://facebook.com/thefireorg Follow FIRE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheFIREorg Subscribe to our email list: http://thefire.org/takeaction/subscribe/ “It’s to the eternal shame of higher education in America that it no longer celebrates itself as a place where anything can happen, anything can be discussed, anything can be taught,” says Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of Reason.tv and Reason.com. In an interview with FIRE, Gillespie considers how the state of free expression on campus has deteriorated since his days at Rutgers University and why [...]

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  • May 13, 2013 / Free Speech

    Student Says F*** Outside of Class, College Nearly Ruins His Career

    Like FIRE on Facebook: http://facebook.com/thefireorg Follow FIRE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheFIREorg Subscribe to our email list: http://thefire.org/takeaction/subscribe/ “I was persecuted by my college for saying the word ‘fuck’ in conversation with another student after class.” In 2010, Isaac Rosenbloom was a student at Hinds Community College in Mississippi. He was disappointed to receive a grade of “74″ on an exam, and after class ended he walked outside and complained to a fellow student, “This grade is going to fuck up my entire GPA.” After [...]

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  • December 12, 2012 / Free Speech

    How FIRE Helped Me Learn to Defend My Rights

    FIRE’s latest video features our own Nico Perrino, who says, “Before hearing about FIRE, I was completely unaware of my rights as a college student. After an on-campus incident prompted me to consult FIRE’s Guides to Student Rights on Campus, I not only discovered what my rights were, but embarked on a two-year campaign to fight speech codes on my campus. Thanks to the generosity of our friends and donors, students across the country are engaged in similar fights on [...]

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Recent Videos

  • Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate

    Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate

    May 13, 2013 / Free Speech

    For over a generation, shocking cases of censorship at America’s colleges and universities have taught students the wrong lessons about living in a free society. Drawing on a decade of experience battling for freedom of speech on campus, First Amendment lawyer Greg Lukianoff reveals how higher education fails to teach students to become critical thinkers: by stifling open debate, our campuses are supercharging ideological divisions, promoting groupthink, and encouraging an unscholarly certainty about complex issues. Order ‘Unlearning Liberty’ today! http://fir.ee/M7g3Hi [...]

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  • Bob Corn-Revere on Defending Student Speech and the Hayden Barnes Case

    Bob Corn-Revere on Defending Student Speech and the Hayden Barnes Case

    May 13, 2013 / Due Process, Free Speech

    Nearly six years after he was expelled from Valdosta State University (VSU) for peacefully protesting the planned construction of parking garages on campus, former VSU student Hayden Barnes will finally be able to press the merits of his case in court. On January 28, 2013, trial began in Barnes’ civil rights lawsuit against former VSU President Ronald Zaccari, the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia, and other VSU administrators. The trial will determine whether Zaccari’s decision to [...]

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  • In Defense of Being Offensive: Jonathan Rauch on the New Threats to Free Thought

    In Defense of Being Offensive: Jonathan Rauch on the New Threats to Free Thought

    May 13, 2013 / Free Speech

    “We can’t trust anybody in authority to make smart decisions for us about what’s the acceptable point of view.” So says author and Brookings Institution scholar Jonathan Rauch in FIRE’s video, “In Defense of Being Offensive.” Rauch presents a stirring and convincing defense of pluralism over what he calls “purism,” arguing that minorities benefit more under a society that values pluralism, including the right to offend others. Rauch concludes: “Is it a dangerous situation when someone can shut down the [...]

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  • Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate

    Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate

    November 15, 2012 / Free Speech

    For over a generation, shocking cases of censorship at America’s colleges and universities have taught students the wrong lessons about living in a free society. This video explains how higher education fails to teach its students to become critical thinkers by supercharging ideological divisions, promoting groupthink, and encouraging an unscholarly certainty about complex issues. See more at UnlearningLiberty.com!

    Continue reading »

  • Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate

    Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate

    October 15, 2012 / Free Speech

    For over a generation, shocking cases of censorship at America’s colleges and universities have taught students the wrong lessons about living in a free society. Drawing on a decade of experience battling for freedom of speech on campus, First Amendment lawyer Greg Lukianoff reveals how higher education fails to teach students to become critical thinkers: by stifling open debate, our campuses are supercharging ideological divisions, promoting groupthink, and encouraging an unscholarly certainty about complex issues. Order ‘Unlearning Liberty’ today! http://fir.ee/M7g3Hi [...]

    Continue reading »

  • College Professor Censors Anti-Obama Comment on Free Speech Wall

    College Professor Censors Anti-Obama Comment on Free Speech Wall

    October 1, 2012 / Free Speech

    Last year, college censorship took a turn for the ridiculous when a professor at Sam Houston State University vandalized a student-sponsored “free speech wall” with a box-cutting knife to remove anti-President Obama speech he didn’t like. When the students complained about the vandalism to the campus police, the police took the professor’s side and demanded still more censorship, leading students to dismantle the wall. Morgan Freeman, the student who organized the protest, recounts this amazing and disturbing story in FIRE’s [...]

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  • Double Standards at Auburn: University Censors Ron Paul Poster

    Double Standards at Auburn: University Censors Ron Paul Poster

    September 20, 2012 / Free Speech

    In November 2011, Auburn University student Eric Philips was required to remove a banner supporting Ron Paul’s presidential campaign from the inside of his dormitory window. Philips documented numerous examples of other students not being asked to do the same. In this video, Eric Philips fills you in on the details of Auburn’s efforts to censor his viewpoint and how you can fight back against censorship on your own campus. – Produced by Ted Balaker. Interview by Greg Lukianoff. Music [...]

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  • Steven Pinker on Taboos, Political Correctness, and Dissent

    Steven Pinker on Taboos, Political Correctness, and Dissent

    September 13, 2012 / Free Speech

    FIRE President Greg Lukianoff interviews Harvard psychology professor and bestselling author Steven Pinker about his books, the crucial role dissent plays in keeping society sane, the special importance of free speech on campus, and the origins of political correctness. Professor Pinker, a member of FIRE’s Board of Advisors, is the author of The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of our Nature, and The Stuff of Thought. Read more at http://fir.ee/O22F9R. – Produced by Ted Balaker. Interview by Greg Lukianoff. Camera [...]

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  • Exiled from Vanderbilt: How Colleges are Driving Religious Groups off Campus

    Exiled from Vanderbilt: How Colleges are Driving Religious Groups off Campus

    August 20, 2012 / Religious Liberty

    Featuring Larry Gatlin and Jonathan Rauch! Religious and political groups in the United States have traditionally been free to choose their leaders and members without interference from authorities. That’s no longer true at Vanderbilt University, where the school banned belief-based groups from making belief-based decisions about their members and leaders and drove 13 religious student groups off of campus. In this video, FIRE talks to Vanderbilt students and faculty about how this decision is affecting them. Country music legend Larry [...]

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  • What Every Student Should Know Before Starting College

    What Every Student Should Know Before Starting College

    July 31, 2012 / Free Speech

    FIRE’s Essay Contest will award $20,000 in scholarships to high school juniors and seniors this fall! Visit http://www.thefire.org/contest to enter. Deadline Nov. 25, 2012. Did you know that some colleges and universities restrict student speech rights? Don’t be surprised by campus censorship when you get to college — know before you go! Visit http://www.thefire.org to learn more. For more information on the cases and codes included in the video, visit http://thefire.org/article/14730.html. Produced by Ted Balaker. Music by Audionautix.com.

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