FIRE Victory at Princeton, Michael Malice on 'So to Speak' & more!

Bringing you the latest free speech news (2/4/2024)

Story of the week

• VICTORY: Princeton amends no-contact order policy after FIRE/ADL letter by Jessie Appleby

The most recent incident arose on Nov. 9 when a journalist with The Princeton Tory, a conservative student publication, covered a campus protest held by Students for Justice in Palestine. While the journalist was recording footage of the protest, a graduate student allegedly attempted to block the journalist’s camera and then followed her around as she tried to cover the event. The journalist reported the incident to a public safety officer, but the officer blamed the journalist for “inciting something” and did not intervene. The graduate student allegedly continued to physically obstruct the journalist, eventually pushing her and stepping on her foot. 

After the protest, and despite all indications the journalist had done nothing more than newsgathering in the ordinary course of covering a protest, the graduate student obtained a no-contact order against the journalist. 

Although Princeton’s own policy for issuing no-contact orders requires a student to first communicate in writing with the other party that they wish to have no further communication, the university reportedly allowed the no-contact order to remain in place even after Princeton learned the graduate student had never communicated with the journalist.” 

From “Princeton keeps letting students weaponize no-contact orders against student journalists” by Jessie Appleby

This week in ERI

• Mill’s Trident: An argument every fan (or opponent) of free speech must know (co-authored by Adam Goldstein)

This week in FIRE’s blog

• New FIRE report finds 85% of top colleges have restrictive speech codes

• Alumni want the University of Chicago to stay on top of free speech by Jessica Wills

FIRE’s First Amendment News

• The scent of blood in the water: Feeding frenzy for defamation plaintiffs – First Amendment News 410 by Ronald K. L. Collins

FIRE’s ‘So to Speak’ podcast

• Michael Malice offers “An anarchist’s perspective” on free speech

‘Canceling’ Update

• Check out this interview I did with Big Think! We talk about the evolution of free speech, the importance of a robust free speech culture, and other themes from “The Canceling of the American Mind” (co-authored by Rikki Schlott).

Song of the week!

• “It’s Called: Freefall” by Rainbow Kitten Surprise