Free Speech

The school has attracted attention for its refusal to join the higher-ed resistance and, perhaps not coincidentally, for its avoidance of any direct sanctions by the Trump Administration.

As an Australian who wrote about the demonstrations while on campus, I gave my phone a superficial clean before flying to the U.S. I underestimated what I was up against.

Universities are accustomed to acquiescing to the government, but Trump made Harvard an offer it couldn’t not refuse.

A practical guide to courage in Trump’s age of fear.

Mahmoud Khalil’s case is eerily similar to that of the L.A. Eight, in which a group of students were targeted, not because of any criminal activity but because of their speech.

Whatever legal rationale the Trump Administration cooks up, deporting protesters for things they say is wildly un-American—and possibly unpopular, too.

Eighty years ago, Americans embraced a new definition of their common faith. “The spirit of liberty,” a then little-known judge said, “is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.”

For years, universities have been less inclined to protect speech and quicker to sanction it. After this spring’s protests, it will be difficult to turn back.

We need to build a broad moral consensus around the universal right to dissent, rooted in widely held beliefs about American liberty.

You can take the platform away from American users, but it is far too late to contain the habits that it has unleashed.

An online argument erupted after a video of a law professor grabbing a microphone from a student went viral. But the debate has obscured some fairly basic truths.

The freedom to use social media is a First Amendment right, even if it’s one we should all avail ourselves of less often.

Does calling attention to political disruptions just make the problem worse?

As the Israel-Hamas war provokes claims about unacceptable speech, the ability to debate difficult subjects is in renewed peril.

Carol Christ reflects on campus protests, then and now.

A free and independent press is vital to preserve, but doing so requires the people running media companies to take that idea out of mothballs.

Since the October 7th attack, Palestinians and peace activists in Israel have increasingly been targeted by employers, universities, government authorities, and right-wing mobs.

If the world of fable teaches us anything, it’s that even our most precious values are contingent, or won at great cost.

The court filing claims that the Federalist Society leader, a champion of free speech, urged police to violate the First Amendment rights of a demonstrator near his Maine home.

A recent court ruling dramatically curtailed the federal bureaucracy’s ability to communicate with Internet platforms. What’s at stake when free speech harms the public?