AFSA Weekly Review
The week's top news, views and other higher-ed reform highlights
AFSA HIGHLIGHTS
Cautious Optimism Was the Keynote at a Capitol Forum on Campus Free Speech The Alma Matters Substack. The Alumni Free Speech Alliance was well-represented at the 4th annual Campus Free Speech Roundtable at the US Capitol.
UVA’s Administration Has Willfully Ignored Its Longstanding Antisemitism Problem Joel Gardner for JeffersonCouncil.org. The truth is that UVA has had a longstanding antisemitism problem that was exponentially exacerbated following the brutal massacres in Israel that occurred on October 7, 2023. The fact is that UVA’s administration has watched as one serious antisemitic incident after another occurred after 10/7 without public comment as to the antisemitic nature of these incidents — and perhaps even worse, it has consistently refused to admit that antisemitism on Grounds is a distinct and singular problem. For proof, as one famous sports commentator in NYC used to say, “Let’s go to the videotape”. Read Gardner’s entire report here.
The Paladin Highlights Work of Furman Free Speech Alliance Furman Free Speech Alliance Newsletter. Furman's student newspaper recognizes the work of the Furman Free Speech Alliance and asks whether the administration is doing enough to address free speech on campus.
We Must Make Free Speech a Progressive Value Again Marisa Warman Hirschfield for Princetonians for Free Speech. I worry that many progressives are abandoning free speech as a core value of our movement, endorsing it only when politically advantageous.
NEWS
Republicans Host Campus Free Speech Roundtable Inside Higher Ed. The discussion focused on claims that DEI programs are silencing conservative students and faculty, reinforcing the GOP’s message that colleges and universities are liberal bastions and do not welcome intellectual diversity.
D.E.I. Official at University of Michigan Is Fired Over Antisemitism Claim, Lawyer Says The New York Times. The official, an administrator of multicultural programs, was accused of making antisemitic remarks in a conversation. Her lawyer said that the school fired her this week, and vowed to sue.
FIRE SURVEY: Only 20% of university faculty say a conservative would fit in well in their department The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. A biology professor fired for saying X and Y chromosomes determine sex. A journalism professor’s tenure offer rescinded because of her outspoken support of DEI. A lecturer subjected to retaliation and a year-long investigation for making a parody “land acknowledgement.” These are just some of the high-profile cases of politicized university censorship tracked by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in recent years. But a new FIRE survey of faculty across the country suggests these and other incidents have taken their toll, and that fear and self-censorship is rampant in academia. Find FIRE’s new report here.
‘Traded Ideas For Ideology’: Nearly 75% Of College Faculty Believe Academic Freedom Is In Danger The Daily Caller. Nearly three-quarters of faculty at four-year colleges and universities believe academic freedom is not secure, a report released Thursday found. Faculty are increasingly afraid of suffering consequences for views they express inside and outside of the classroom and are choosing to self-censor as a result, according to a report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Issues such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender ideology and the Palestinian conflict are the driving forces behind the politically tense scene on campus.
Ivy League's All-But-Dead GOP Clubs Are 'Rocking' as Stigma Ebbs Bloomberg News. Republicans remain a minority on campus, but their numbers are growing in wake of Israel-Gaza protests and Trump’s win.
Anti-Israel Protester Punches Jewish Student, Calls Him ‘Nazi’ in Deranged Attack Outside Columbia The New York Post. An anti-Israel protester slugged a Jewish Columbia University student in the face, ranting about Hitler and the Nazis in an unhinged flag-snatching tantrum on Monday, police and the victim said. Read more about this here.
‘While you’re eating, kids are bleeding’: Students Stage Disruptive “Die-In” at Cornell The Cornell Sun On the last day of classes, the Coalition for Mutual Liberation led a rally and die-in for Palestine. Protesters blocked the entrances to Okenshields Dining Hall and Mann Library on Monday morning, leading to Cornell University Police Department officers threatening arrests, according to a CML press release. This protest marked the fifth major CML Palestine protest this school year. Prior CML-led protests include the Day Hall vandalization, the career fair shutdown, a rally for suspended international graduate student Momodou Taal, and the Board of Trustees walkout.
Higher-ed is Hurtling Off A Demographic Cliff Inside Higher Ed Look out below!! The traditional college-age population will peak next year. Is higher education ready to face the coming decline?
A surge in antisemitism on campuses is changing how Jewish students pick universities The Daily Tennessean As college application deadlines draw near, some Jewish students are changing how they choose schools following a record year of antisemitism on campuses across the U.S.
VIEWS
The Coming Fight to Abolish DEI City Journal. While the officials in Trump world are all committed to abolishing DEI in theory, they have yet to settle on a practical approach for doing so. With this in mind, I’m writing this open letter to Trump’s incoming Cabinet, outlining how to shut down DEI and win the fight for public opinion.
Luigi Mangione’s bad education The Spectator The most we can say is that studying at Penn did nothing to stay his progress towards contempt for civilized norms.
Civics Is Making a Comeback in Higher Ed Liberty Nation News. Wresting control of higher education from the far left has been nothing less than a tug-of-war for many who believe the American college experience has become a hotbed of radical indoctrination. However, a new report by RealClearInvestigations reveals that civics education is gaining ground on college campuses across the nation, much to the chagrin of progressive professors.
Truth-Seeking or Critical Thinking? Reconsidering the University's Mission Khoa Sands on Princetoniansforfreespeech.org. Is the mission of the university the pursuit of truth, or is it a socio-political goal? Whatever this socio-political goal, whether the radical social equality of Herbert Marcuse or the fascism of the Nazis, when the university dedicates itself towards political ends, truth suffers, freedom is extinguished and the academic vocation is compromised.
Trump’s revenge: Naming Dr. Bhattacharya to head the NIH The Hill. Progressives and media pundits are raising concerns that once in office President-elect Donald Trump will seek revenge against his critics and political opponents. But there are different kinds of revenge, and nominating Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to head the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the right kind of revenge.
VIDS
Dr. Arthur Laffer at Davidson College
Do the rich pay their fair share? Famed economist Dr. Art Laffer — the famed godfather of supply-side economics — was at Davidson College on Nov. 20 to discuss that and other fascinating topics. The event was jointly sponsored by Davidsonians for Freedom of Thought and Discourse, Young America’s Foundation, Davidson College Libertarians, and College Republicans.
Enjoy!
PODCASTS
What is academic freedom? And who controls what is taught in American universities -- professors or politicians?"
Yale Law professor Keith Whittington answers this timely question and more in his new book, "You Can't Teach That! The Battle over University Classrooms." He joins FIRE’s "So to Speak” podcast to discuss the history of academic freedom, the difference between intramural and extramural speech, and why there is a "weaponization" of intellectual diversity.
REPORTS & RESOURCES
Teetering on the edge: The enrollment cliff nears as higher education hangs in the balance The so-called “enrollment cliff” — a drop in the number of people graduating high school and therefore looking toward college — we’ve been waiting a generation for is nearly here, and we now have clear and detailed projections to help us as we prepare to reach the edge.
Silence in the classroom: A stark look at academic self-censorship Editor & Publisher. As debates over free speech and ideological diversity continue to intensify on college campuses, a new study by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sheds light on the unsettling prevalence of self-censorship among faculty at higher education institutions across the United States.