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. ...

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...

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....

stone university building with old door and archway vestibule with two tress with pink bud flowers on either side
Please direct all media inquiries to: press@academicfreedom.org

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

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

Academic Freedom Alliance: Q & A with Keith Whittington

Princetonians For Free Speech
March 8, 2021

AFA News

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 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...

Opinion and Commentary

image of a college campus, stone archway looking out to a green quad with trees

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.