The Alumni Free Speech Movement Continues To Grow

Welcome to the fold, and the fight, Husky Alumni for Academic Excellence!

Our friends at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) just posted exciting news on their webpage. University of Washington alumni have banded together to form “Husky Alumni for Academic Excellence,“ in the latest sign that alumni are shaking off the complacency of the past to establish themselves as a strong and respected voice on higher-ed reform issues.

Here’s part of Bobby Ramkissoon’s excellent write-up (Ramkissoon is a program manager in FIRE’s alumni outreach section):

This new, independent UW alumni group has articulated a mission that is ambitious yet essential: “To reinvigorate free and open academic inquiry and to foster a campus ethos where civil discourse and intellectual courage flourish.”

“My hope with this alumni group,” Daigneault says, “is to rally former UW students, who like me, are concerned about the culture of discourse on campus. The group will also be a place for graduated students to continue the fight long after they leave.”

Daigneault’s early activism was catalyzed by the controversy surrounding UW professor Stuart Reges, whose parody land acknowledgment and subsequent legal battles with the university became a major flashpoint in the free speech landscape. Inspired by Reges’ story — and FIRE’s robust defense of him — Daigneault founded Huskies for Liberty in 2022, a UW student organization devoted to “the preservation of free expression and individual liberty on campus and beyond.”

Furthermore, through FIRE’s Campus Scholar Program, Daigneault organized “Free Speech Matters,” UW’s first student-led conference devoted to the enduring relevance of free speech, civil discourse, and academic freedom.

Alongside Daigneault, Bill Severson brings over a half-century of legal experience and an unabiding love for his alma mater. His concerns over the state of higher education were sparked by the 2017 debacle at Evergreen State College, where an angry mob of students confronted Professor Bret Weinstein for publicly objecting to a proposal that white students and professors leave campus for Evergreen’s annual “Day of Absence.”

“I was appalled by how that situation was handled,” Severson recounts. “It led me to explore thinkers like Jonathan Haidt and Steven Pinker and organizations like FIRE.”

The complete piece can be read here. But Ramkissoon sums things up beautifully this way:

The fight for free speech on campus, as history has long demonstrated, is never truly won. It must be waged anew by each generation. Daigneault and Severson have valiantly taken up the mantle. The question remains, who will join them?

Welcome to the fold, and the fight, Husky Alumni for Academic Excellence.

ASFA stands ready to do everything it can to help you achieve your objectives.