Category Archives: Free Speech

Daniel Ellsberg: “The Most Dangerous Man in America” and Heroic Whistleblower

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Al Kagan

“Wouldn’t you go to prison to help end this war?” Daniel Ellsberg, 1971 “I was PFC Manning.” Daniel Ellsberg, 2011 “The current risk of nuclear war, over Ukraine, is as great as the world has ever seen.” Daniel Ellsberg, 2023 … Continue reading →

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Academic Freedom Cases at the U of I, Part 2

Posted on 02/10/2023 by Belden Fields

In the October/November issue of the Public i, I discussed two cases in which the University faced pressure to dismiss professors because of their speech or extramural writing. These cases go back to the 1960s but have recently been resurrected … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academic freedom, Censorship, Free Speech, Israel/Palestine, Public Universities, Section, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Academic Freedom Cases at the U of I, Part 2

Two Academic Freedom Cases at the U of I Revisited

Posted on 11/04/2022 by Belden Fields

Late last year, the University of Illinois Press published Dangerous Ideas on Campus by Matthew Ehrlich. It is an excellent book on two professors at the U of I, one of whom was fired, while the other was not. The … Continue reading →

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Posted in Academic freedom, Censorship, Free Speech, Public Universities, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Two Academic Freedom Cases at the U of I Revisited

The Future of Actual Malice

Posted on 09/18/2022 by John Nerone

Justice Clarence Thomas poked the media industry this past June when he dissented from the Supreme Court decision not to hear an appeal of a libel case. The plaintiff, Coral Ridge Ministries, had sought a review of a lower-court decision … Continue reading →

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Book Banning, Gag Orders, and the Organized Right Wing

Posted on 05/13/2022 by Al Kagan

Book bannings are very much in the news these days. They are happening mostly in more rural school districts and in the South, but not only in these places. The American Library Association (ALA) issued a statement in November of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Censorship, Education, Education, Free Speech, Libraries, Literature | Comments Off on Book Banning, Gag Orders, and the Organized Right Wing

Open Rebuttal to Sen. Duckworth

Posted on 04/12/2019 by Sheri Daley

In a February 7 letter responding to my concerns about Senate Bill 1 (S.1), the Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act of 2019, Senator Tammy Duckworth offered a defense of her support for this bill. I believe that … Continue reading →

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What Can We Learn from the Yellow Vests?

Posted on 04/12/2019 by Richard Esbenshade

The last Saturday in March marked “Act XX” for the the Gilets Jaunes or Yellow Vests protests, the 20th consecutive weekend citizens have marched in the tens of thousands and occupied traffic roundabouts across France. Since hundreds of thousands mobilized … Continue reading →

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The Chancellor’s Massmail on Free Speech Who Is It Talking About?

Posted on 06/14/2018 by Bruce Rosenstock

Returning from a meeting of the American Association of Universities (AAU), Chancellor Jones shared a joint statement that was crafted at the meeting in regard to free speech on campus. The statement starts out by saying that people whose views … Continue reading →

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The Alt-Right Comes to Town

Posted on 03/27/2018 by David Prochaska

by David Prochaska TARIQ KHAN INCIDENT Last November 16, on the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s election, Tariq Khan, a 39-year-old Ph.D. student in history, was just finishing speaking at a rally when hecklers, including Joel Valdez, called out, “No … Continue reading →

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 Interview with Bryton Mellott, Flag-Burner  

Posted on 10/19/2017 by Public i

Last year, on July 4, 2016, Bryton Mellot was arrested by Urbana police for burning a US flag and posting the photos on Facebook. The protest was in response to the mass shooting in June at the Pulse nightclub in … Continue reading →

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Bryton Mellott’s Flagburning Facebook Posts

Posted on 07/13/2016 by Public i

On July 4, Independence Day, Bryton Mellott was arrested for posting photos on Facebook of his burning of a US flag. The story was picked up by Forbes, NPR, ABC news, CNN, and other national outlets, and went viral on … Continue reading →

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News-Gazette: Always Right

Posted on 07/13/2016 by David Prochaska

The News-Gazette has always been Right — right-wing Republican, and in its smug self-righteousness, right. The paper presents itself as “respectable Republican,” as representing the values of “proper,” polite society. It abhors what is impolitic, impolite. That the News-Gazette is … Continue reading →

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