Home » Free Speech
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How FIRE Helped Me Learn to Defend My Rights
December 12, 2012 / Free Speech
FIRE’s latest video features our own Nico Perrino, who says, “Before hearing about FIRE, I was completely unaware of my rights as a college student. After an on-campus incident prompted me to consult FIRE’s Guides to Student Rights on Campus, I not only discovered what my rights were, but embarked on a two-year campaign to fight speech codes on my campus. Thanks to the generosity of our friends and donors, students across the country are engaged in similar fights on [...]
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Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate
November 15, 2012 / Free Speech
For over a generation, shocking cases of censorship at America’s colleges and universities have taught students the wrong lessons about living in a free society. This video explains how higher education fails to teach its students to become critical thinkers by supercharging ideological divisions, promoting groupthink, and encouraging an unscholarly certainty about complex issues. See more at UnlearningLiberty.com!
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Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate
October 15, 2012 / Free Speech
For over a generation, shocking cases of censorship at America’s colleges and universities have taught students the wrong lessons about living in a free society. Drawing on a decade of experience battling for freedom of speech on campus, First Amendment lawyer Greg Lukianoff reveals how higher education fails to teach students to become critical thinkers: by stifling open debate, our campuses are supercharging ideological divisions, promoting groupthink, and encouraging an unscholarly certainty about complex issues. Order ‘Unlearning Liberty’ today! fir.ee/M7g3Hi [...]
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College Professor Censors Anti-Obama Comment on Free Speech Wall
October 1, 2012 / Free Speech
Last year, college censorship took a turn for the ridiculous when a professor at Sam Houston State University vandalized a student-sponsored “free speech wall” with a box-cutting knife to remove anti-President Obama speech he didn’t like. When the students complained about the vandalism to the campus police, the police took the professor’s side and demanded still more censorship, leading students to dismantle the wall. Morgan Freeman, the student who organized the protest, recounts this amazing and disturbing story in FIRE’s [...]
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Double Standards at Auburn: University Censors Ron Paul Poster
September 20, 2012 / Free Speech
In November 2011, Auburn University student Eric Philips was required to remove a banner supporting Ron Paul’s presidential campaign from the inside of his dormitory window. Philips documented numerous examples of other students not being asked to do the same. In this video, Eric Philips fills you in on the details of Auburn’s efforts to censor his viewpoint and how you can fight back against censorship on your own campus. – Produced by Ted Balaker. Interview by Greg Lukianoff. Music [...]
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Steven Pinker on Taboos, Political Correctness, and Dissent
September 13, 2012 / Free Speech
FIRE President Greg Lukianoff interviews Harvard psychology professor and bestselling author Steven Pinker about his books, the crucial role dissent plays in keeping society sane, the special importance of free speech on campus, and the origins of political correctness. Professor Pinker, a member of FIRE’s Board of Advisors, is the author of The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of our Nature, and The Stuff of Thought. Read more at fir.ee/O22F9R. – Produced by Ted Balaker. Interview by Greg Lukianoff. Camera [...]
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What Every Student Should Know Before Starting College
July 31, 2012 / Free Speech
FIRE’s Essay Contest will award $20,000 in scholarships to high school juniors and seniors this fall! Visit www.thefire.org/contest to enter. Deadline Nov. 25, 2012. Did you know that some colleges and universities restrict student speech rights? Don’t be surprised by campus censorship when you get to college — know before you go! Visit www.thefire.org to learn more. For more information on the cases and codes included in the video, visit thefire.org/article/14730.html. Produced by Ted Balaker. Music by Audionautix.com.
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Intro to FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus
July 19, 2012 / Free Speech
First published in 2005, FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus has been distributed to more than 138,000 students, faculty members, alumni, administrators, and citizens across the country as a tool to fight censorship on campus. The new second edition of the Guide has been fully updated for today’s students, paying special attention to student expression in the Facebook era and providing readers with fresh examples from FIRE’s case archives, important updates from state and federal case law, and incisive [...]
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12 Terrible Colleges for Free Speech – 2012
March 27, 2012 / Free Speech
FIRE has named America’s Top 12 worst colleges for free speech in the Huffington Post. Is your college one of them? Watch and find out, and visit www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-lukianoff/the-12-worst-schools-for-_b_1382… to learn more! Music by audionautix.com.
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Don’t Mess with Firefly! How SciFi Fans Made a Campus Safe for Free Speech (feat. Neil Gaiman)
December 24, 2011 / Free Speech
Get a poster for this film! fir.ee/SnGZAQ This award-winning video, which features an interview with legendary author Neil Gaiman, is a lighthearted look at how the University of Wisconsin–Stout backed down from its censorship of Professor James Miller’s posters, one featuring a quote from the science fiction show Firefly, and the other condemning fascism. Stout stood by its actions until FIRE’s advocacy campaign on Miller’s behalf inspired Gaiman, along with Firefly actors Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin, to take to [...]
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