FIRE INTERN MAX BLOOM ON “SAFE SPEECH“:

I’m a student at the University of Chicago, and my experience has been that dialogue works well on a small scale. Get the Marxist and the laissez-faire economics student (both of whom who are in full force at the university) in a small room and you’ll get a hell of a debate. But on a larger scale, there’s relatively little interest in debating something like the matter of global Islam or whether slurs should be reclaimed, particularly in public forums. While there are probably many reasons for this, I have heard from a number of students that they feel wary commenting on divisive issues because they worry that other individuals will label their speech personally objectionable or harmful, at which point the speaker knows that she will either have to back down or be ostracized and condemned for harming other students.

ICYMI: Another Student Stopped From Handing Out Constitutions (VIDEO):

Anthony Vizzone just wanted to hand out copies of the Constitution and recruit students for his student organization—the University of Hawaii at Hilo Young Americans for Liberty (YAL). But when he crossed the “imaginary boundaries” of his university’s free speech zone, administrators were there to stop him.

You can see the whole video at FIRE’s website.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW DOCUMENTARY ABOUT HOW OUTRAGE CULTURE IS KILLING COMEDY. I am excited to announce that FIRE, the DKT Liberty Project, and director Ted Balaker and Korchula Productions have been working on a feature documentary titled Can We Take a Joke? about how outrage culture, political correctness, and the language police are threatening comedy. The documentary pays particular attention to how students are learning this behavior on college campuses and how, as I argue in the documentary, Lenny Bruce would not survive for a second on the modern college campus. The documentary already features interviews with Adam Carolla, Gilbert Gottfried, Penn Jillette, Jim Norton, Lisa Lampanelli, Heather McDonald, Karith Foster, me, Jon Ronson, Chris Lee, Ron Collins, Bob Corn-Revere, and Jonathan Rauch. Read more about it over at Ricochet.

TEACHING STUDENTS TO FIGHT CAMPUS SPEECH CODES: Despite literally dozens of successful anti-speech codes lawsuits over the years, most colleges that we at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) survey maintain codes that make a mockery of First Amendment standards. But there is something you can do about it. If you know a college student, tell them to attend FIRE’s Student Network conference this summer in Philadelphia, where we teach students how to fight back. Now featuring Radley Balko and Nadine Strossen! Conference is free and includes a travel stipend. Only a week left to apply! https://www.thefire.org/student-network/conference/