AFSA Alumni Already Are Making Waves in 2025
Our affiliate groups are off to a fast start in the New Year
Alumni Free Speech Alliance members haven’t been bashful about leaping into the fray in 2025, heralding an auspicious start to what could be a “breakthrough year” in the fight for campus free speech.
Here are just two examples of how they’re making themselves heard.
The UNC Alumni Free Speech Alliance just published this open letter to the UNC Board of Governors, in response to a new campus gatherings policy under consideration. “UNC AFSA seeks to ensure that UNC prioritizes free expression in campus policy matters, and, accordingly, we submit the following comments regarding the UNC System’s proposed “Policy on Campus Gatherings & Related Student Conduct Matters,” wrote UNC AFSA Managing Director Harrington Shaw, by way of prefacing a detailed and thoughtful critique of the proposed new policies.
The group, speaking through Shaw, raised concerns about proposed “free speech zones,” a rule requiring 36-hour notice before campus gatherings, and possible new restrictions on the use of amplified sound. Here’s what the letter covered, in bullet points
Outdoor Speech Access – Clarification is needed to ensure key spaces like campus quads remain open for expression
36-Hour Notice Requirement – Which could limit the ability of students to hold spontaneous protests in response to current events.
Amplified Sound Rules – Should be carefully tailored to balance free speech and preventing disruption.
Intercampus Reporting – Clear definitions of violations are necessary to avoid chilling protected speech.
UNC AFSA said the following on the question of when local law enforcers should be deployed in response to protests.
“While the UNC System wishes to require the inclusion of law enforcement officials in constituent institutions’ preparations for demonstrations, it should ensure that law enforcement, campus administrators, and student affairs staff receive robust training on First Amendment principles,“ wrote Shaw. “This will equip them to strike the appropriate balance between safety and free expression, ensuring constitutional rights are not inadvertently or intentionally infringed.”
The entire letter is excellent and well worth a read, so please do so. Let’s hope the UNC Board of Governors heeds the group’s wise counsel.
Now let’s turn our attention northward, to where The Cornell Free Speech Alliance is also making waves — this time with the publication of “Saving Cornell: A Call to Action for Alumni,” an open letter to the public concerning alumni trustee elections.
Read the letter in its entirety, complete with the names of signers, on the Cornell Free Speech Alliance Website. It originally saw print in The College Fix.
The letter speaks eloquently and forcefully for itself. It needs no editorial elaboration here. We hope it gets engaged alumni thinking not just about the situation at Cornell, where “current Trustee Election rules completely prohibit open debate and free expression among candidates and alumni voters on the key issues now facing the university,” according to the letter. It’s also an eloquent call to arms against any alma mater that attempts to control, “manage,” muzzle, or marginalize independent alumni voices, through rigged election rules or any other means.
Thanks to the Cornell Free Speech Alliance for taking a principled stand that will strongly resonate with other engaged alumni across the land.