UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement

Northwestern Settles With Trump Administration Northwestern will pay $75 million and walk back a 2024 deal with student protesters, among other concessions, in order to restore hundreds of millions in research funding.

Northwestern University has reached an agreement with the Trump administration. Learn more about the settlement here. ⬇️

Opinion | A Retired Police Officer Posted a Meme. It Earned Him 37 Days in Jail. The best way to honor Charlie Kirk is not to criminalize speech.

FIRE is preparing a federal civil-rights lawsuit following the arrest of a retired police officer for posting a meme. Read more in this op-ed:

Public Universities Don’t Want to Discuss the Compact Institutions have been slow to respond to records requests related to the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” and UT Austin is fighting to withhold records.

Public universities have been slow to respond to records requests related to the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
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Opinion | Viewpoint Diversity Misses the Point The academy’s latest obsession mistakes political representation for intellectual agility.

“But intellectual pluralism is a goal worth clinging to, for intrinsic as well as civic reasons. It makes minds more interesting, not just more democratic.”

Read more about the current push for viewpoint diversity in academia in this op-ed. ⤵️

Opinion | ‘We Lost Our Mission’: Three University Leaders on the Future of Higher Ed The view from Dartmouth, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wesleyan.

Three university leaders discuss the future of higher education. Read more in The New York Times. 🔗

‘Unlawful coercion’: Trump can’t withhold funds or demand payment from UC, federal judge rules A federal judge ruled Donald Trump cannot demand that UCLA pay a $1.2 billion settlement that would have restricted academic freedoms.

A federal judge ruled that Trump cannot withhold funds or demand a 1.2 billion settlement from UCLA. 👇

Texas A&M System Sharply Restricts How Faculty Can Teach About Race and Gender A new policy approved Thursday — following a viral video that led to a professor’s firing — prohibits courses from advocating for “race or gender ideology” without prior approval.

New policy at Texas A&M University system restricts how faculty can teach about race and gender. Learn more in The Chronicle of Higher Education. ⬇️

Berkeley Law Dean Urges SCOTUS to Be “Guardrail” for Democracy Erwin Chemerinsky capped this week’s APLU conference by explaining higher ed’s financial vulnerabilities that the Trump administration is exploiting and arguing that the high court needs to “check”…

National Advisory Board Co-Chair Dean Erwin Chemerinsky urges the courts and the Supreme Court to be the guardrail of our democracy. 🔗

Justice Department to Investigate Protests at Turning Point Event at Berkeley The announcement came a day after protesters confronted attendees of a campus event hosted by Turning Point USA, the conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk.

The Department of Justice said it will investigate the University of California, Berkeley following a campus event hosted by Turning Point USA. Read more:

Fla. Board Says Syllabi, Reading Lists Must Be Posted Publicly Faculty at some Florida public universities argue the new policy is less about transparency for students and more about chilling academic freedom.

In Florida, faculty at all public universities must now post syllabi and reading lists online, with some saying the move is designed to chill academic freedom. 🔗

Judge Orders ED Remove Partisan Out-of-Office Messages A federal judge sided with the American Federation of Government Employees in its challenge to the Trump administration sending partisan, automated out-of-office messages from Department of Education…

A Federal judge has ruled that the Department of Education violated the First Amendment in partisan out-of-office messages. 👇

Partial Victory for Freedom of the Press at Indiana U While we need to celebrate the win, we also need to recognize how incomplete and temporary it was.

Former fellow John Wilson writes about a partial victory for freedom of the press at Indiana University. ⬇️

Free Speech for Me, Not for Thee: The Campus Double Standard | Insight Into Academia Universities confront conflicting pressures over open dialogue, free speech on campus.

The push and pull over free speech across higher education continues to evolve with enforcement actions drawing accusations of political selectivity. 🔗

🚨New #SpeechMatters podcast episode out now!

Tune into “Building Campus Cultures for Constructive Dialogue” with guest host and former fellow Alex Kappus and guest speaker Caroline Mehl from the Constructive Dialogue Institute.

🎧 buff.ly/N051reN

Trump Pressure Risking Free Speech at University of California, Judge Warns A federal judge said that faculty members were being affected in their teaching and research by the Trump administration’s pressure campaign.

A federal judge warned that the Trump administration’s pressure campaign is undermining academic freedom at the University of California. 👇

You Can’t Pursue Truth Without Viewpoint Diversity (opinion) This is what we wish critics of the concept on both the left and right would understand.

“The truth-seeking function of universities does not work properly without the presence of diverse viewpoints.”

Read why viewpoint diversity is essential to the mission of a university: 🔗

Contributor: Science funding and immigration fuel America's innovation. They're at risk The symbiotic relationship between the federal government and our universities — one that has delivered so much for America, its people and its economy — is now at risk.

University of California President James B. Milliken writes about how science funding and immigration fuel America’s innovation - and how they’re now at risk. Read the op-ed. ⤵️

Cato Free Speech Debate Are current interpretations of the First Amendment sufficient to safeguard free expression in the digital age? To mark Free Speech Week, we are hosting two prominent scholars to debate this issue on October...

Are current interpretations of the First Amendment sufficient to safeguard free expression in the digital age? Watch two prominent scholars debate the issue in this Cato Free Speech Debate:

The Erosion of Academic Freedom in the US Join HxA at UC Riverside for a discussion between Steve Brint and Tom Ginsburg on the erosion of academic freedom in the United States and what to do about it.

🚨1 week away!

📢 Register for “The Erosion of Academic Freedom in the US - And What To Do About It?” on November 13 at 12:30 pm PST with Steve Brint and Tom Ginsburg:

U. of Virginia Will Adopt Trump’s Interpretation of DEI in Federal Deal The university has pledged to follow government guidance arguing that a wide range of diversity-related efforts and programs are illegal discrimination.

The University of Virginia has reached a federal deal with the Trump administration. 🔗

Amid Trump’s Assault on Free Speech, Advocates Stay Busy Three nonprofit legal organizations say their caseload has ramped up significantly since Trump took office. But so has public support for their work.

Three nonprofit legal organizations stay busy amid the Trump administration’s assault on higher ed and DEI.

Promotional graphic for “(No) Shame in Speaking: Creating Space for Courageous Conversation” featuring speaker Penelope Lusk. A photo of the speaker appears on the right side of the graphic against a blue background.

📣Tune in today at 10am PT/ 1pm ET for “(No) Shame in Speaking: Creating Space for Courageous Conversation.” Register now! buff.ly/1s7LXla

How the Compact Curtails Academic Freedom (opinion) The Trump administration’s proposed compact with colleges would violate academic freedom and freedom of expression in three broad areas.

Read how the Trump administration’s compact would violate academic freedom and freedom of expression in this op-ed: 👇

Campus Censorship Puts American Soft Power at Risk International students are drawn to America’s academic freedom and open discourse. But faculty firings and topic restrictions on campus are undermining the very freedoms that attract them—putting…

International students are drawn to American values of academic freedom and open discourse but campus censorship puts this at risk. 🔗

Many Colleges Have Turned Down Trump’s Compact. Now Some Are Willing to Talk. The openness to talking to the White House points to the continued division in the sector about how best to interact with the Trump administration.

Responses from colleges in regards to Trump’s compact suggest a desire among higher ed leaders to enter into dialogue with the White House. ⬇️

Texas Governor Appoints Ombudsman Who Will Oversee Higher Ed Texas governor Greg Abbott picked a regent from Texas Southern University to serve as the state’s first higher ed ombudsman, who will ensure state universities adhere to recent laws that restricted…

Texas governor has appointed a regent from Texas Southern University to serve as the state’s first higher ed ombudsman. 🔗

The assault on academic freedom Is the universities regulator protecting free expression, or are some beliefs more protected than others?

When protecting free speech becomes a regulatory mandate, does true academic freedom still exist?
Explore the debate👇

A Great Divergence Across States on Autonomy (opinion) As some states move to regulate public colleges more like K–12 schools, we may be witnessing the start of an epic natural experiment in governance, Neal H. Hutchens writes.

Former fellow Neal Hutchens discusses institutional and faculty autonomy.

Read more in his op-ed in Inside Higher Ed:

Judge Halts UT’s Comprehensive Ban on Student Speech A Texas district court judge on Tuesday ordered the University of Texas system to hold off on enforcing new, sweeping limits on student expression that would prohibit any “expressive activity”…

A Texas district court judge ordered the University of Texas system to hold off on enforcing new limits on student expression. 🔗

A Brief Legal Analysis of the Department of Education’s Proposed Compact for Higher Education Blog

Explore this brief legal analysis of the Department of Education’s proposed Compact - what it means for free speech, academic freedom and institutional funding. 👇