News & Op-Eds
In The News
September 2023
September Update from the Academic Freedom Alliance Promoting the Princeton Principles Last month, the AFA helped call attention to the release of the Princeton Principles for a Campus Culture of Free Inquiry, which were issued by the James Madison Program in American...
August 2023
August Update from the Academic Freedom Alliance As we enter the Fall semester, the AFA is hard at work defending faculty under fire for protected speech. We are working behind the scenes to support professors and are exploring getting involved in additional cases. ...
May Their Number Increase: An Interview with Director Flynn Cratty about Academic Freedom
May Their Number Increase: An Interview with Director Flynn Cratty about Academic Freedom Conducted and edited by Howard Muncy Flynn Cratty is a historian of early modern Europe at Harvard University where he is Executive Director of the Council on Academic Freedom,...
Leaving Certainty Unexamined: An Academic Freedom Interview with Sociology Professor Ilana Redstone
Leaving Certainty Unexamined: An Academic Freedom Interview with Sociology Professor Ilana Redstone Conducted and edited by Howard Muncy Ilana Redstone is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is also the Faculty...
July 2023
July Update from the Academic Freedom Alliance Calling Out Texas A&M Earlier today, we sent a letter to Texas A&M regarding its suspension and investigation of a faculty member over comments critical of Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. According...
AFA Sends Letter to Texas A&M Regarding Censure of Professor
AFA Sends Letter to Texas A&M Regarding Censure of Professor University suspended and investigated Prof. Joy Alonzo for criticizing a state official PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today sent a letter to Texas A&M regarding reports that it...
Free to Explore Ideas: A Conversation with Professor James Hartley
Free to Explore Ideas: A Conversation with Professor James Hartley Conducted and edited by Howard Muncy James Hartley is Professor of Economics at Mount Holyoke College, where he teaches Macroeconomic Theory, Money and Banking, and Principles of Economics among other...
June 2023
June Update from the Academic Freedom Alliance It may be summer, but we’ve had a busy month at the AFA. Below is a summary of our key activities from June. Taking on the Mayo Clinic On June 6, the AFA sent a letter to the Mayo Clinic denouncing its treatment of Dr....
AFA Files Amicus Brief on Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act”
AFA Files Amicus Brief on Florida’s Unconstitutional “Stop WOKE Act” Brief Filed with 11th Circuit calls Act “unconstitutionally vague and overbroad” PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...
AFA Denounces Mayo Clinic After It Disciplines Doctor for Transgender Comments
AFA Denounces Mayo Clinic After It Disciplines Doctor for Transgender Comments Doctor punished after comments to New York Times relating to his scholarly expertise PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today sent a letter to the Mayo Clinic denouncing...
Rebuilding a Culture of Academic Freedom - A Conversation with Keith Whittington
Law and Liberty Podcast, June 1, 2021
Keith Whittington - Fighting for Faculty Freedom
Two for Tea Podcast
May 16, 2021
Some Academic Freedom Victories
Keith E. Whittington, Reason
May 5, 2021
Professors Are Demanding Their Academic Freedom (And That’s A Good Thing For The Rest Of Us)
Emily Chamlee-Wright, Forbes
April 16, 2021
Free Speech Is Under Threat on College Campuses. Here’s How to Fight Back.
Keith E. Whittington, National Review
March 18, 2021
Fresh Hope for Campus Free Speech
Editorial Board, New York Post
March 15, 2021
A Star Is Born!!! The Academic Freedom Alliance
Richard Vedder, Forbes Magazine
March 15, 2021
College Educators Form Alliance to Defend Free Expression
Voice of America
March 13, 2021
Academic Freedom Alliance: A Welcome Addition to Fight for Campus Expression
Peter Bonilla, FIRE
March 12, 2021
Speaking the Truth: Heed the Words of Frederick Douglass
Lucas E. Morel, Persuasion
March 12, 2021
More Defenders of Campus Free Speech
Wall Street Journal
March 9, 2021
New Nonpartisan Faculty Group Will Promote and Defend Free Speech, Academic Freedom
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed
March 9, 2021
Academic Freedom Alliance: Q & A with Keith Whittington
Princetonians For Free Speech
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Alliance to Defend Free Expression
Hillel Italie, AP News
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Free Speech Alliance to Counter Cancel Culture and Viewpoint Suppression
Mica Soellner, Washington Examiner
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Free Speech Alliance to Counter Cancel Culture and Viewpoint Suppression
Mica Soellner, Washington Examiner
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Free Speech Alliance to Counter Cancel Culture and Viewpoint Suppression
Mica Soellner, Washington Examiner
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Free Speech Alliance to Counter Cancel Culture and Viewpoint Suppression
Mica Soellner, Washington Examiner
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Free Speech Alliance to Counter Cancel Culture and Viewpoint Suppression
Mica Soellner, Washington Examiner
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Free Speech Alliance to Counter Cancel Culture and Viewpoint Suppression
Mica Soellner, Washington Examiner
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Free Speech Alliance to Counter Cancel Culture and Viewpoint Suppression
Mica Soellner, Washington Examiner
March 8, 2021
College Educators Form Free Speech Alliance to Counter Cancel Culture and Viewpoint Suppression
Mica Soellner, Washington Examiner
March 8, 2021
AFA News
AFA Sends Letter to Texas A&M Regarding Censure of Professor
AFA Sends Letter to Texas A&M Regarding Censure of Professor University suspended and investigated Prof. Joy Alonzo for criticizing a state official PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today sent a letter to Texas A&M regarding reports that it...
AFA Files Amicus Brief on Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act”
AFA Files Amicus Brief on Florida’s Unconstitutional “Stop WOKE Act” Brief Filed with 11th Circuit calls Act “unconstitutionally vague and overbroad” PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...
AFA Denounces Mayo Clinic After It Disciplines Doctor for Transgender Comments
AFA Denounces Mayo Clinic After It Disciplines Doctor for Transgender Comments Doctor punished after comments to New York Times relating to his scholarly expertise PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today sent a letter to the Mayo Clinic denouncing...
AFA Calls for an End to “Divisive Concepts” Legislation
AFA Calls for an End to “Divisive Concepts” Legislation New wave of state level proposals seeks to ban instruction on race and gender topics PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today released a statement urging policymakers to refrain from adopting...
AFA Sends Letter to Hamline University Over Dismissal of Professor
AFA Sends Letter to Hamline University Over Dismissal of Professor Professor fired for showing medieval painting of Muhammad in session on Islamic art PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today sent a letter to Hamline University regarding its handling...
Opinion and Commentary
Free Speech Is a Core Tenet of the Academy. College Trustees Really Ought to Know That.
Keith E. Whittington, The Chronicle of Higher Education
December 5, 2018
Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom of Thought and Expression
A Statement by Robert P. George and Cornel West
March 14, 2017
Academics Are Really, Really Worried About Their Freedom
John McWhorter, The Atlantic
September 1, 2020
Free Speech Prevails at Princeton
Robert P. George, First Things
July 28, 2020
Protecting Academic Freedom in the Black Lives Matter Era
Jonathan Zimmerman, Inside Higher Ed
June 22, 2020
The Legal Problem With Diversity Statements
Brian Leiter, The Chronicle of Higher Education
March 13, 2020
Can We Guarantee That Colleges Are Intellectually Diverse?
Molly Worthen, The New York Times
August 30, 2019
Unpopular Speech in A Cold Climate
Jeannie Suk Gersen, The New Yorker
March 14, 2019
How a Dispute Over the N-Word Became a Dispiriting Farce
Randall Kennedy, The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 8, 2019
The AFA does not endorse or take any position on the content or opinions represented in these works.
Learn More About the Academic Freedom Alliance
Individuals at academic institutions should not fear suppression or retaliation for teaching, writing, or speaking. We encourage you to join the movement in supporting the flourishing of intellectual life and the pursuit of knowledge and truth at institutions of higher learning.