In response to petitions by students at the University of Pittsburgh requesting the university cancel student-sponsored events that included speakers critical of transgenderism, ACTA sent a letter to members of the University of Pittsburgh’s Board of Trustees applauding the university’s support for free speech and free expression and encouraging them to do more to safeguard the free exchange of ideas. In the letter, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff recommended the university increase security for speakers and the venue, record the event and its attendees, and publicize specific, severe consequences for those who would violate the university’s prohibition against disrupting campus events. ACTA maintains that such measures would preemptively prevent the suppression of free speech and encourage respectful, rigorous dialogue about contentious contemporary issues.
Stanford University has adjusted its “Protected Identity Harm” reporting system after widespread criticism that it ...
Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera gave the keynote speech at the Alumni Summit on Free Expression in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2023.
Anger and violent protests on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley in 2017 over a planned visit by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos inspired then-freshman Manu Meel to establish BridgeCal, the third chapter (after Notre Dame and the University of Colorado-Boulder) of a nationwide 501(c)3 movement on college campuses that aims to promote democracy, not partisanship. After graduation, Meel became the national lead of San Francisco-based BridgeUSA as it expanded to 43 chapters in 19 states. Meel currently serves as CEO of BridgeUSA. You can also hear him speak on our podcast Higher Ed Now.
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