Campus Leaders Can’t Avoid Viewpoint Diversity in Pursuit of Open Inquiry
The 2025-6 academic year opened with college presidents across the country affirming their commitment to building cultures of open inquiry on their campuses. To restore public trust in universities, many of these leaders declared that they planned to embark on internal reforms, effectively bringing their campus cultures more in line with the ideals of knowledge-seeking […]
Furman: John Tomasi on the Future of Free Speech
This month, we bring you an exclusive interview with John Tomasi, President of Heterodox Academy, one of the major non-partisan organizations helping colleges like Furman become places where “intellectual curiosity thrives.” He visited Furman during homecoming and sees a bright future for our school. He believes that his organization can help the university continue to […]
College Cancel Culture Is Getting Worse
It has been another brutal year for academic freedom. Colleges and universities have become entangled in political agendas; donors and trustees have used funding as a cudgel; and the Trump administration has withheld federal money to demand ideological compliance. America’s once-revered institutions have succumbed to intimidation, eroding the public’s confidence that they could uphold their […]
Read the conservative op-ed the Texas A&M student paper refused to publish
The Battalion student newspaper at Texas A&M university does not seem to be a fan of conservative student thought. An analysis of the 60 opinion pieces focused on politics published since November 2024 found that nearly all of them — 50 — leaned liberal (35), left-leaning (5), far-left (5), and liberal satire (5). Only 7 […]
Everyone’s Starting ‘Civil Dialogue’ Programs
What, exactly, is the problem with college students? According to many people, they’ve lost the ability to tolerate dissenting views and engage in civil debate. Even before the pro-Palestinian encampment movement of 2024, which sharply divided college communities, disruptive protests of campus speakers stoked widespread consternation on and off campus. Now, under the second Trump […]
What Harvard Needs Next: A Conversation with Steven Pinker and John Tomasi
Join Harvard Alumni for Free Speech (HAFFS) for a conversation about the future of institutional reform at Harvard. Steven Pinker, renowned psychologist and Harvard professor, and John Tomasi, President of Heterodox Academy, will reflect on how institutions can recommit to genuine intellectual pluralism, and how alumni, faculty, and administrators can help create an environment where […]
Preserving Our Community of Trust: Nine Practical Observations to Save The Honor System
For most alumni — regardless of age, gender, profession, or political persuasion — one of the most influential aspects of their Washington and Lee experience is The Honor System. Unfortunately, it is now being challenged, and perhaps unsupported, as never before. The benefits of living in W&L’s “community of trust” are clear. Students are presumed […]
Podcast: The Role of Universities as Bastions of Free Speech and Open Debate in Polarized Times
As centers of learning, universities should be places where ideas, opinions and beliefs can be openly discussed, challenged and interrogated. They also have a duty of care to ensure their diverse community of students and staff feel safe, welcome and free from discrimination. But some claim that an overzealous focus on inclusion and appeasing students […]
Do Americans Still (Mostly) Love Their Universities?
If you’ve picked up a newspaper or talked to the average American about colleges in the last few years, you’ve likely gotten mixed reviews. After all, tuition rates keep rising, the wage premium of college degrees isn’t what it used to be, and colleges are increasingly accused of ideological intolerance and inadequate education. Yet a […]
FIRE Gives Furman’s Latest Non-Discrimination Policy a “Yellow Light”
Our team at the Furman Free Speech Alliance is working on an important Data Din for November, which we look forward to publishing next week. In the meantime, we want to present you with this special report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which analyzes the new “non-discrimination” policy that Furman released […]
