Academic Freedom Archives

Philosophy

Free Speech and Academic Freedom in the Humanities

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11 min

Politics

Students Must Stand Up for Their Professors’ Free Speech

Whatever else they may be accused of, British students are not apathetic. On social media and online petition sites, they campaign for social causes and fight for equality. Every so…

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9 min

Politics

Education Wars: China vs. UK

In the latest tit-for-tat round of what passes for international politics these days, the UK government has imposed “unilateral sanctions” on a number of local and national Chinese politicians for…

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6 min

Philosophy

Academic Curiosity Under Threat

Desire to know why, and how, curiosity; such as is in no living creature but man: so that man is distinguished, not only by his reason, but also by this…

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4 min

Politics

Biting One’s Tongue: The Effects of Self-Censorship in Academe

Pressure to conform to orthodoxy in America’s classrooms is growing. When teachers and educational institutions assert, openly or implicitly, that there is an expected view to take on open questions,…

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5 min

Politics

Why Do Conservative Students Self-Censor?

Conor Friedersdorf’s recent article in the Atlantic, “Evidence That Conservative Students Really Do Self-Censor: Is Free Speech Imperiled on American College Campuses?” discusses the recently published findings from the research…

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By Bwsmith84 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10541370

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8 min

The Firing of Bo Winegard: When Academic Freedom and Outrage Collide

Image by Bwsmith84 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10541370 The recent firing of Dr Bo Winegard, psychology professor at Marietta College, has sparked widespread debate in academia. His predicament…

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9 min

Politics

Educating for Intolerance: Universities and the New Elitism

It almost feels wrong to raise the issue of free speech in universities now. Last March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to cut federal funding for colleges…

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22 min

Threats to Free Speech at University, and How to Deal with Them—Part 2

Part 1 of this essay outlined six major threats to free speech at university, focusing on institutions in the UK and US: first, speech codes, speech guidelines and free speech…

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23 min

Threats to Free Speech at University, and How to Deal with Them—Part 1

Free speech is arguably the most important value for universities to uphold. As Steven Pinker points out in an essay aptly tilted Why Free Speech is Fundamental, “the very thing…

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8 min

The Grain of Truth Behind Calls to Restrict Debate

Statements about the oppressive nature of academic debate or the need to balance free speech with a consideration of people’s feelings are often seen as outrageous enough to be instantly…

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7 min

Politics

What Connects the “Intellectual Dark Web”?

As soon as the Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) appeared in the culture wars, so did accusations that its members are all closed-minded and politically partisan. Recently, in Quillette, Uri Harris…

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6 min

Politics

Positive Liberty and Social Rights: Freedom of Speech on Campus

On university campuses, on the whole, people should be able to express their minds freely and openly, even if they hold contrarian opinions. Campuses are generally places of intellectual inquiry…

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8 min

Politics

The Ideological Reflex and the Culture of Reason

Plato’s Socratic dialogues—in which Socrates questions and argues with a variety of interlocutors who claim to know the nature of such things as justice and virtue—are known for their exhortation…

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