Free Speech Is Threatened on Campus

The BriefGet Up To Speed

Protests have erupted on university campuses across the country. To many, these students are speaking out against racial injustice that has long been manifested in unwelcoming, sometimes hostile environments. But to critics, their demands have gone too far, creating an atmosphere of intolerance for opposing or unpopular points of view. Are the protestors silencing free speech, or are they just trying to be heard? And are the universities responding by defending free speech, or by suppressing it?

David Keating
3 Items
- President, Center for Competitive Politics
Read Bio
Meet the Parents of the Super PACs
Political spending is good for democracy. It's a shame today's liberals don't trust the wisdom of voters.

Wednesday, March 1, 0699
Wall Street Journal
David Keating

Campaign Finance Disclosure Rules Infringe on First Amendment Rights
In the landmark case of Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court wrote that "compelled disclosure, in itself, can seriously infringe on privacy of association and belief guaranteed by the First Amendment." This is happening today with smaller donors.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012
U.S. News & World Report
David Keating

The Anniversary of SpeechNow.org and the Rise of the Super PAC
The Center for Competitive Politics together with the Institute for Justice, represented SpeechNow.orga group then headed by current CCP president David Keatingin Federal court against a government that was attempting to limit the amount of resources available to SpeechNow.

Wednesday, December 31, 1969
David Keating

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Jacob Sullum
4 Items
- Senior Editor, Reason Magazine
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Why Super PACs Are Good for Democracy
Wealthy super PAC donors make politics more competitive.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Reason
Jacob Sullum

The Rap Against Super PACs
While billionaires like Adelson do not need Super PACs to express themselves, such organizations do enable people of more modest means to pool their resources.

Thursday, January 12, 2012
Reason
Jacob Sullum

Who Will Save the Poor Incumbents From the Super PAC Onslaught?
Today's New York Times tells the heart-rending story of U.S. representatives who run for re-election but don't necessarily win. Who is responsible for this disturbing development?

Thursday, March 8, 2012
Reason
Jacob Sullum

The Vain Crusade to Purify Politics
Wealthy individuals, like wealthy candidates, have always been free to spend as much of their own money on political ads as they please.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Reason
Jacob Sullum

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Trevor Potter
6 Items
- President and General Counsel of the Campaign Legal Center
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Money Talks: OpenSecrets.org's Interview With Top Campaign Finance Attorney Trevor Potter
In an interview with OpenSecrets Blog, Potter discusses the seriousness of Colberts super PAC, how political speech isnt for sissies, and how the U.S. Supreme Court is made up of theorists who are not in touch with reality when it comes to how money is being raised and spent.

Friday, March 1, 1472
Trevor Potter

Examining The SuperPAC With Colbert's Trevor Potter
Trevor Potter discusses super PACS on Fresh Air.

Friday, March 1, 1472
Trevor Potter

Op-Ed by Trevor Potter: Five Myths About Super PACs, Challenging Everything You Think You Know
Potter debunks myths about super PACs.

Friday, March 1, 1472
Trevor Potter

The Colbert Report
Video of Trevor Potters appearances on The Colbert Report.

Wednesday, December 31, 1969
Trevor Potter

Campaign Finance in the 2012 Elections: The Rise of Super PACs
On the heels of the FEC's February filing deadline, the Governance Studies program at Brookings hosted a discussion exploring the role of super PACs in the broader campaign finance landscape this election season.  Anthony Corrado, a leading authority on campaign finance, and Trevor Potter, nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former chairman of the FEC, presented.

Thursday, March 1, 2012
Brookings Institution
Trevor Potter

McCain-Feingold: A Good Start
The limited goal of the legislation was to remove the obvious corruption of six-figure individual contributions, and corporate and labor donations (increasingly solicited by elected federal officials) to national committee coffers.

Saturday, June 23, 2012
The Washington Post
Trevor Potter

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Jonathan Soros
2 Items
- Senior Fellow, Roosevelt Institute and co-founder of Friends of Democracy
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Son of Liberal Financier George Soros Launches Anti-Super PAC Super PAC
Jonathan Soros, son of a prominent liberal financier, is helping to launch an independent advocacy group with hopes of spending up to $8 million targeting House lawmakers, primarily Republicans, who oppose public matching funds for elections and other campaign finance reforms.

Sunday, March 1, 1671
The Washington Post
Jonathan Soros

Jonathan Soros Super PAC Aims To Raise Big Money To Reduce Big Money’s Power
The newest super PAC ready to make a splash in the fall elections may be the least likely. Friends of Democracy -- which is headed by Jonathan Soros, son of billionaire hedge funder George Soros; Ilyse Hogue, former MoveOn political and communications director; and David Donnelly, executive director of Public Campaign Action Fund -- seeks to build political power on the issue of reducing the political power of big money.

Sunday, March 1, 1671
Huffington Post
Jonathan Soros

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FOR

Can We Start Taking Political Correctness Seriously Now?

Political correctness is a system of thought that denies the legitimacy of political pluralism on issues of race and gender.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Jonathan Chait

How Illiberalism Hinders the Triumph of Reason

We cannot be so convinced of the rightness of all our views that we seek to impose rather than propose them; we cannot be so thoroughgoing in our skepticism that we refuse to protect individual rights.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Ramesh Ponnuru

The Coddling of the American Mind

In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don't like.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

The New Intolerance of Student Activism

A fight over Halloween costumes at Yale has devolved into an effort to censor dissenting views.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Conor Friedersdorf

Sheltering Campus: Why College Is Not Home

The encroachment of behavioral guidelines into the social and even intellectual spheres comes at a cost.

Friday, February 5, 2016

A. Douglas Stone and Mary Schwab-Stone

AGAINST

Race and the Free-Speech Diversion

The freedom to offend the powerful is not equivalent to the freedom to bully the relatively disempowered.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Jelani Cobb

There's No College P.C. Crisis: In Defense of Student Protesters

Today's campus activists are raising urgent questions about the proper character of the university, initiating debates that will only grow broader and more important as the campus movement continues to develop.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Angus Johnston

A Clash Between Administrators and Students at Yale Went Viral. Why That Is Unfortunate for All Concerned

It is just too easy to take the most extreme incidents, caricature them even further and then conclude that today's college students 'just don't get it' ' when, in point of fact, there is probably a lot more that external observers aren't getting.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Daniel Drezner

Black Protesters Have Reinvigorated Campus Activism

Across the country, student protesters joined the fight for racial progress.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Jamil Smith

Protesters Want Qualitative Diversity on Campus

The students are asking society to engage diversity at a deeper level: inquiring not merely about how campuses should look, but what diverse campuses should do in terms of classroom and community dynamics.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Tomiko Brown-Nagin

Background

Campus Politics: A Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet and timeline provide a working overview of how things look right now and include highlights from some of the most high-profile campus protests.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Alia Wong and Adrienne Green

Here Are The Demands From Students Protesting Racism At 51 Colleges

A list of formal demands made at 51 U.S. campuses has been collected on a website called The Demands. FiveThirtyEight sorted through the list, categorizing each request and looking for patterns in the students' priorities.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Leah Libresco

Do U.S. Colleges Have a Race Problem?

It may seem like American colleges suddenly have a race problem, but observers say this recent rash of racial harassment is not unprecedented.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Brandon Griggs

At Yale, a Fiery Debate Over Who's Being Silenced

A look at on and off-campus coverage of the Yale protests.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Danny Funt

Oberlin's President Says No

Faced with 14 pages of demands by black students, he says that he won't respond to "any document that explicitly rejects the notion of collaborative engagement."

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Scott Jaschik

Student Demands: Who's Resigned, What's Renamed

This academic year, administrators have wrestled with a deluge of student demands related to cultural and racial issues on campus. Some have been met. Here's a recap.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Kate Sinclair

Debating the Protests

Debating the Campus Protests at Mizzou, Yale, and Elsewhere

Staff notes and reader reactions to the controversies over race and free speech on college campuses.

Wednesday, December 31, 1969

At Mizzou, Yale and Beyond, Campus Protests Stir Fresh Questions About Free Speech

Lukianoff of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and Cobb of The New Yorker join Gwen Ifill to discuss questions of free speech and its limitations.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Gwen Ifill

Meet the New Student Activists

Seven students talk about the problems, the protests and themselves.

Monday, February 1, 2016

As told to Abby Ellin

Race on College Campuses

New York Times journalists, student activists and college administrators discussed race on college campuses.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

New York Times

Polls

The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2015

See page 47 of survey results for answers to the questions about speech.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Kevin Eagan

National Undergraduate Study

A national survey of 800 undergraduate students asking questions regarding free speech and intellectual diversity on campuses.

Monday, October 26, 2015

McLaughlin & Associates

40% of Millennials OK with Limiting Speech Offensive to Minorities

American Millennials are far more likely than older generations to say the government should be able to prevent people from saying offensive statements about minority groups, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data on free speech and media across the globe.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Jacob Poushter

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