My Report about Freedom of the Press on Campus
BY JOHN K. WILSON I have written a new study about freedom of the press on campus that has been released today, a product of my 2019–20 fellowship with the University of California National Center for...
View ArticleWalter Williams and the Fake ISIS Quote
BY JOHN K. WILSON On August 7, I happened to read a syndicated column at FrontPageMag by Walter E. Williams, a legendary conservative intellectual and the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of...
View ArticleCancel Culture in Political Science?
BY JOHN K. WILSON Pippa Norris of Harvard has an interesting new paper on the views of political scientists globally, “Closed minds? Is a ‘cancel culture’ stifling academic freedom and intellectual...
View ArticleDebunking Mary Grabar
BY JOHN K. WILSON Mary Grabar, a fellow at the right-wing Alexander Hamilton Institute, has written an essay praising Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) for introducing the Saving American History Act of...
View ArticleWhy We Need Freedom of the Press on Campus Now More Than Ever
BY JOHN K. WILSON If anyone thinks freedom of the press is safe on college campuses, two stories this week from FIRE suggest otherwise. At the University of North Texas, a right-wing nonprofit group...
View ArticleDestroying Free Speech to Save It
BY JOHN K. WiLSON Tony Woodlief in the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 30 offered a conservative critique of free speech absolutism, claiming that “the intolerance prevailing on college campuses isn’t the...
View ArticleAAUP Letter Addresses Faculty Cuts at Illinois Wesleyan
BY JOHN K. WILSON On August 31, Illinois Wesleyan University announced that three tenured faculty would be given one-year terminal contracts and then fired because of controversial plans to discontinue...
View ArticleActivists Versus the Student Press
BY JOHN K. WILSON Mary Chappell, editor-in-chief of the Loyola Phoenix (Loyola University of Chicago) has a great editorial this week rejecting attacks from student protesters who objected to being...
View ArticleWhy SAFS Is Wrong about the Scholar Strike
BY JOHN K. WILSON The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS), a Canadian conservative advocacy group for academic freedom, issued a letter denouncing last week’s Scholar Strike. I believe...
View ArticleZoom, YouTube, and Facebook Censor Event at SF State
BY JOHN K. WILSON Earlier today, an event at San Francisco State University was banned by leading tech giants after a campaign to censor it was led by a large number of pro-Israel groups. It is an...
View ArticleWhy the College Free Speech Rankings Are Worthless
BY JOHN K. WILSON This week the College Free Speech Survey was released, which was developed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the conservative website RealClearEducation,...
View ArticleFree Speech Week and Fall 2020 Events
BY JOHN K. WILSON Free Speech Week is being held October 19-25, 2020 to celebrate freedom of speech and freedom of the press. To help mark Free Speech Week, here are a few events (including one...
View ArticleThe Problem with the Protests at Northwestern
BY JOHN K. WILSON On October 17, about 300 Northwestern University students and supporters held a protest in Evanston as part of their ongoing efforts to abolish the campus police department and enact...
View ArticleOhio Legislators Demand Ban on “Porn” at Kent State University
BY JOHN K. WILSON I have an essay posted today at the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) blog about a particularly disturbing case at Kent State University where state...
View ArticleDr. Biden and Mr. Epstein: On Academic Titles and Academic Freedom
BY JOHN K. WILSON The outrage machine against “cancel culture” has already been put into full motion with Joseph Epstein, an emeritus lecturer at Northwestern University who retired from the English...
View ArticleThe David Horowitz Freedom Hating Center
BY JOHN K. WILSON The David Horowitz Freedom Center this month announced yet another campaign aimed at censoring free speech on college campuses. The latest effort is a Facebook ad targeting four...
View ArticleChoose Your Own GPA at Northwestern
BY JOHN K. WILSON Northwestern University professors Jackie Stevens and Jorge Coronado, two officers of the Northwestern AAUP chapter, have an op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times today titled “Hey,...
View ArticleIn Defense of Garrett Felber
BY JOHN K. WILSON Last month, University of Mississippi assistant professor of history Garrett Felber was fired in one of the most remarkable attacks on academic freedom in recent memory, a dismissal...
View ArticleWhy We Need Free Expression, Now More Than Ever
BY JOHN K. WILSON The attack on the Capitol by Trump terrorists which led to five deaths was a shocking, horrifying crime. Trump and his supporters deserve the strongest condemnation for their role in...
View ArticleThreats, Hate Speech, and the Wisconsin Distortion
BY JOHN K. WILSON The headlines declared a common story about how repressive students are today: “Study Finds Majority Of College Students Think Government Should Punish ‘Hate Speech.’” “Nearly...
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