WELCOME TO MARLBORO UNIVERSITY, WHERE STUDENTS SMOKE LIKE CHIMNEYS, ALUMNI DIE YOUNG, AND FACULTY PUBLISH STUDIES BLAMING LUNG CANCER ON MICROPLASTICS AND COLONIALISM INSTEAD OF CIGARETTES. That’s the premise behind my new series, BREAKING THE ACADEMIC FILIBUSTER, about academia’s decades-long resistance to reform, and you can read the FREE introduction here (subsequent chapters will be paid, with proceeds going to FIRE)

A $25 BILLION VERDICT AGAINST META, AND FREE SPEECH SHOULD BE WORRIED. New Mexico’s supposedly privacy-focused case effectively lets jurors police Facebook’s decisions about “hate speech” and “misinformation,” raising the troubling question of how much control government should have over online expression. Check out this weekend’s update for more.

IS YOUR PHONE MAKING YOU LESS TOLERANT? New FIRE data finds that college students who get their news exclusively from social media are substantially less tolerant of opposing viewpoints, although correlation isn’t causation. Check out this weekend’s update for more.

FRANCE’S SOLUTION TO RIOTS? LESS FREE SPEECH. Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wants temporary social media blackouts in areas experiencing unrest, because apparently stopping people from talking about a problem is easier than solving it. Check out this weekend’s update for more.

MACRON GETS AMERICAN FREE SPEECH WRONG AMID FRENCH RIOTS. The French president misses a crucial distinction: The right to offend isn’t the right to commit violence. The First Amendment isn’t the problem, and abandoning its principles won’t make France safer.

I’M TIRED OF HEARING “THE CONSTITUTION IS NOT A SUICIDE PACT” EVERY TIME SOMEONE WANTS TO LIMIT OUR RIGHTS. The warning traces back to a 1949 Supreme Court dissent opposing a ruling protecting inflammatory speech, but the majority disagreed, America survived, and we should remember that constitutional protections matter most when fear makes them inconvenient.

MICHAEL BÉRUBÉ AND JENNIFER RUTH CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT FACULTY GOVERNANCE, BUT NOT AS THEY INTENDED. Their book It’s Not Free Speech helped convince me that giving certain faculty factions more power could make academia’s problems worse. I’m exploring why in Breaking the Academic Filibuster, a new experiment in publishing directly on Substack that also raises money for FIRE.

WE MAY FINALLY HAVE A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO FIX WHAT’S BROKEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION. Major universities are acknowledging problems they’ve spent decades minimizing, but the same old tactics of delay and denial threaten to run out the clock. After 25 years fighting these battles at FIRE, I’m not interested in waiting another 50 years. Here’s why this moment matters.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO OPPOSE HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM. YOU JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE IT NEVER HAPPENS. Demand more evidence, question the methodology, convene another committee, and move the goalposts until everyone demanding reform has retired. I call it the Academic Filibuster, and my new Substack series explains how it works.

THE FOUNDERS UNDERSTOOD THAT LIBERTY BEGINS WITH FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE, NOT PERMISSION FROM THE GOVERNMENT. FIRE’s Jeffrey Rosen joins three leading historians to examine what Madison, Washington, and Jefferson believed about religious liberty and the constitutional principles they helped establish.

FIFTY YEARS OF EVIDENCE, AND SOME IN ACADEMIA STILL WANT TO START THE DEBATE OVER FROM SQUARE ONE. Defenders of the status quo, including many within the AAUP, demand endless studies, move the goalposts, and dismiss critics as having political cooties. Now an AAUP article even questions whether political imbalance in higher education exists at all. That’s the Academic Filibuster in action.

YALE IS FINALLY ADMITTING THAT HIGHER EDUCATION HAS SOME SERIOUS PROBLEMS. I was thrilled by its unusually candid report, along with new reports from Harvard, Vanderbilt, Washington University, and Cornell. But after 25 years at FIRE, I know exactly how defenders of the status quo can bury reform. My new Substack series explains why we can’t afford to let that happen again.

CAMPUS CENSORSHIP JUST HIT A NEW RECORD, AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ARE INCREASINGLY GETTING IN ON THE ACT. FIRE has documented more than 200 attempts to deplatform campus speakers in 2026 alone, with pressure coming from across the political spectrum and raising serious concerns about freedom of expression and government interference in academic life

FREDERICK DOUGLASS KNEW THAT FREE SPEECH MEANS LITTLE IF IT DISAPPEARS THE MOMENT A MOB OBJECTS. Jacob Mchangama revisits Douglass’s confrontations in this week’s update with those who sought to silence him and the lessons his defense of free expression holds today

A BRITISH TEENAGER MOCKED A LOCAL POLITICIAN, AND THE POLICE SHOWED UP AT HIS DOOR. Sarah McLaughlin reports in this week’s update on what happens when a country that prides itself on democracy starts treating political mockery like a police matter.

OUR MESSAGE TO CORNELL: BRINGING BACK CAMPUS KANGAROO COURTS IS NOT THE ANSWER. As Robert Shibley explains, abandoning due process won’t deliver justice, and we’ve already seen what happens when colleges try. See this week’s update for the full story.

VOLDEMORT’S “HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED” CLAUSE JUST BECAME LAW IN MINNESOTA: At least, that’s how the Foley School Board seems to be operating, repeatedly silencing parents advocating for their disabled son simply for mentioning school officials’ names and job titles. Never mind that Minnesota law explicitly makes those names and titles public information, or that the First Amendment doesn’t have a special exception for bureaucrats who would rather not be criticized.

NEW JERSEY, WHERE ASKING TAXPAYERS ABOUT A TAX HIKE CAN GET YOU INVESTIGATED: Apparently, some bureaucrats think elected officials should be seen and not heard, especially when the subject is your money. Thankfully, FIRE fought back, and this absurd complaint is now history.

CAN CALIFORNIA AND COLORADO USE LAWSUITS TO MAKE CLIMATE POLICY FOR THE REST OF AMERICA? Apparently, letting Congress make national laws is too old-fashioned, so Jonathan Adler and Donald Kochan join FIRE’s Jeffrey Rosen on The Blessings of Liberty to discuss what the Constitution actually allows.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS FOUGHT SLAVERY WITHOUT DEMANDING A GOVERNMENT MINISTRY OF ACCEPTABLE OPINIONS. Jacob Mchangama revisits Douglass’s belief in answering bad ideas with better arguments, a concept that seems increasingly radical in an age when everyone wants to censor their opponents. 

TOM CRUISE MAY HAVE FINALLY MET HIS MATCH IN HONG KONG’S CENSORS. His new movie vanished from local cinemas just before China’s National Day, and the authorities won’t say why. The breakdown is in this weekend’s update.

YOU CAN’T HOLD PUBLIC OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE IF YOU CAN’T EVEN NAME THEM. A Minnesota school board silenced parents advocating for their disabled son because they dared mention school officials’ job titles. The full story in this weekend’s update.

“LIFE OF BRIAN” FROM MONTY PYTHON WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SATIRE: Decades later, John Cleese has been reported to Britain’s counterterrorism program for criticizing religion. Andrew Doyle writes in The Washington Post about what happens when taking offense becomes grounds for reporting someone as a potential extremist.

JOHN CLEESE HAS BEEN REPORTED TO COUNTERTERRORISM AUTHORITIES: The Monty Python legend, who has spent decades mocking religious dogma, was reported to Britain’s Prevent program for criticizing Islam. Andrew Doyle explains in The Washington Post why confusing offensive speech with a terrorist threat is a dangerous road to go down.

GOOD NEWS ABOUT ACADEMIA, WITH A GIANT ASTERISK: Fewer students now say violence or shoutdowns can be acceptable. But nearly one in three still tolerate violence at least rarely, and students are becoming less tolerant of controversial speakers.