For better or worse, Harvard University is enshrined in the popular imagination as our nation's premier liberal arts institution. While I blame Elle Woods, the fact is that every aspect of Harvard's institutional conduct is examined and imitated by the rest of the academy. Simply put, Harvard is a...

Most Americans probably think of state-mandated loyalty oaths as relics of a bygone era, evoking the dark days of the Red Scare and McCarthyism. You might be surprised, however, to find that these illiberal tools for rooting out commies are still around in the 21st century -- and that the...

I hate the abuse of the word literally. Somehow our society has co-opted the word to mean something like "very much so" as opposed to, you know, literally. Since I'm a nerd about this stuff, it's fun for me to use the word as it's meant to be used....

Check out Julian Sanchez's take on why students at Smith should not be proud they disrupted a campus speech by an anti-gay speaker.

In his post--which sports the excellent (and astute) title Surely Lucy Won't Yank the Football Away This Time!--Sanchez wisely points out that the...

Three whirlwind days of on-line debating at the LA Times "Dust-Up" feature and I am starting to forget what it was like to not to write columns all day long. Today's topic is sure to ruffle some feathers: Ben Stein's defense of intelligent design and his offensive against Darwinism...

Ding ding! It's round two of my digital debate with Michael Shermer, of Skeptic magazine, over on the Los Angeles Times' "Dust-Up" feature. Today's topic? "Do universities have a customer-service responsibility to their students to rein in expression that makes students uncomfortable?" Anyone who has ever...

All week long, I'll be digitally debating Michael Shermer, Scientific American columnist and editor of Skeptic magazine, over on the Los Angeles Times' "Dust-Up" feature. We'll be duking it out over academic freedom and other hot-button issues on campus.

Today's topic? Allegations of...

On Tuesday, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression announced this year's recipients of its annual "Muzzle Awards," a dubious distinction awarded to "the country's most egregious and ridiculous censors." The list included such august institutions as the FCC (winner of a "Lifetime Muzzle"), the New York...

In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, we all knew things on college campuses were going to change. Even the most cynical among us, however, probably didn't think to themselves, "Hey, how can I use this horrible tragedy to my advantage?"

But regardless of whether that despicable thought...

Last night I had the honor of being featured on CBS Evening News to talk about JuicyCampus.com, a site designed to allow students from colleges across the country to anonymously gossip about each other. To the shock of no one, the site is therefore replete with sophomoric comments;...

This Thursday, Colorado State University (CSU) junior J. David McSwane will be headed to a closed-door hearing to decide his future as editor-in-chief of the Rocky Mountain Collegian, CSU's student newspaper. The offense? On September 21, McSwane's paper ran a four word editorial, reading simply "Taser This: FUCK...

I suspect many of you have seen this by now, but take a look at this University of Florida student who was manhandled and tasered by university police for taking too much time asking a question at a John Kerry speech. (Warning: The clip can be pretty disturbing.)

You know a way to make it more likely to catch sex offenders? Make the definition of "sex offense" so broad that virtually any physical contact counts as sexual assault. Then whenever anyone is accused of a sex offense the authorities can find them guilty at their discretion. Sure, it...

Two months ago, as president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), I wrote an open letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg to inform him that he had been badly deceived. I'm still waiting for an answer.

Back in May, Mayor Bloomberg delivered Tufts University's commencement...

To the surprise of virtually no one, the University of Colorado's (CU's) Board of Regents voted to fire controversial professor Ward Churchill late yesterday. The Regents cited the extensive findings of academic misconduct against Churchill as the reason for the dismissal. Anyone following the case, however, will remember that...

I am, to say the least, disappointed by Joseph Berger's column in The New York Times yesterday concerning Evan Maloney's film Indoctrinate U and free speech on campus in general. I have been corresponding with Joe for several weeks, and even had lunch with him this past Friday....

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education was very pleased to see your strong endorsement of the basic principles of free speech in your commencement address at Tufts University last weekend. You may be distressed to learn, however, that it appears you have been badly misled by...