» First Amendment and Free Speech

University presidents, provosts, deans, and other senior administrators make difficult decisions every day. They deal with student misconduct, faculty disputes, controversial speech, discrimination complaints, protests, academic integrity, personnel…

Social media can help build your professional reputation—but one careless post can damage it in seconds. A comment written in anger, an offensive joke, a personal attack, or an ill-advised photograph can resurface when you apply for a job, seek a p…

Every day, we make hundreds of decisions. Most are routine. We decide what to eat, where to drive, or which email deserves our immediate attention. Those choices rarely alter the course of our lives. The decisions that matter are different. Choosing…

Americans often debate whether free speech is under attack. Legally, the answer is complicated. The First Amendment still exists. The government generally cannot imprison people for expressing political opinions. Courts continue to recognize broad co…

One of the most profound cultural changes in modern America has occurred almost silently. People no longer speak honestly. Not completely. Not openly. Not without calculation. Increasingly, intelligent and educated people carefully filter nearly ever…

Every year, thousands of families send their children to American universities under a shared assumption: that higher education is a marketplace of ideas governed by fairness, logic, and basic civil rights. They are wrong. Over the last decade, a qui…

Public-employee speech doctrine appears, on paper, to be well settled. Courts recite familiar tests, invoke settled standards, and reaffirm bedrock First Amendment principles. The rules are known. The frameworks are stable. The citations are routine.…

Public employers rarely punish speech outright anymore. They do something more subtle—and more effective. They invoke professionalism. Across public institutions, and especially universities, adverse actions are increasingly justified by claims abo…