AUSTRALIAN OFFICIALS HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW RIGHT: THE RIGHT NOT TO BE MOCKED. GET A GRIP. Australia’s top bureaucrats want Parliament to make it harder to share clips of their public testimony because people might ridicule them. Full story in this week’s update.

CANADA DISCOVERS THAT OFFENSIVE SPEECH IS STILL SPEECH. Saskatoon officials are considering restrictions on graphic anti-abortion flyers because residents find them disturbing. The full story in this week’s update!

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, I LANDED IN PHILADELPHIA ON ONE OF THE LAST FLIGHTS BEFORE AMERICA’S SKIES WENT SILENT ON 9/11. Weeks later, I started at FIRE and learned how quickly fear can turn into pressure to abandon free speech principles. This is what 9/11 taught me about defending free speech.

THE ROLE’S ARE REVERSED — WE’RE GIVING HIGHER ED A REPORT CARD TODAY! FIRE’s 2027 College Free Speech Rankings are out. Some schools should celebrate, some should close the blinds and pretend nobody’s home, and everyone else can check whether they earned bragging rights, a warning label, or something in between.

BATTLE OF THE ALMA MATERS! Stanford, my law school, ranks #55 in the 2027 College Free Speech Rankings. American University, my undergrad alma mater, ranks #155… so for today I’m leaning heavily into the Stanford part of my résumé. Where does your school land?

I’M FINE WITH GOVERNMENT WORRYING ABOUT WHETHER AI CAN DRAIN MY BANK ACCOUNT, I’M LESS EXCITED ABOUT IT DECIDING WHAT THE AI IS ALLOWED TO TELL ME. Our new piece argues for a simple rule. Regulate genuine real-world powers without turning the regulator into the head librarian.

THE LAST THING AI NEEDS IS A FEDERAL MINISTRY OF ACCEPTABLE ANSWERS. Government can police real-world harms without turning legitimate safety rules into a permission slip to control what Americans can ask, learn, and discover.

WHEN CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS COME TO CAMPUS, TOO MANY STUDENTS STILL THINK SILENCING THEM IS A LEGITIMATE RESPONSE. The latest FIRE data show widespread opposition to controversial speakers and persistent support for shout-downs, blockades, and, among some students, violence.

ONE YEAR AFTER CHARLIE KIRK’S MURDER, CAMPUS FREE SPEECH STILL HAS A VIOLENCE PROBLEM. FIRE’s latest data show real progress, but 30% of students still say violence can sometimes be acceptable to stop a campus speaker, Sean Stevens and Robert Shibley write in the WSJ.

TURNS OUT TRADITIONAL NORMS AROUND SEX AND COMMITMENT MAY HAVE CONTAINED SOME WISDOM AFTER ALL. My Canceling of the American Mind co-author Rikki Schlott’s new book Nothing Serious takes a hard look at what happened when modern dating decided otherwise.

THE 2027 COLLEGE FREE SPEECH RANKINGS ARE OUT. A record 140 schools passed this year, but the national average is still a D-, which is another way of saying higher ed has improved from “terrible” to “still pretty bad.” See where your alma mater ranks.

A STUDENT SENATE VOTES 25–0 TO DENY A REPUBLICAN CLUB FOR BEING REPUBLICAN. At Whitman College, apparently freedom of association is fine, as long as you associate with the approved people. Rights that protect only popular opinions are not really protections at all.

CANADIAN COURT REJECTS A FORCED APOLOGY FOR MEME, THAILAND IMPRISONS ACTIVIST FOR INSULTING MONARCHY, & CHINA CENSORS FOOTAGE FROM TIBET: Different countries, same recurring temptation: punish the speech instead of answering it.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON LEARNS THAT COMPELLED SPEECH CAN BE EXPENSIVE: Professor Stuart Reges challenged the school’s land-acknowledgment requirement, and the case ended with a $600K settlement. Academic freedom includes the right not to mouth the university’s preferred message. More in this weekend’s Free Speech Update.

FREE SPEECH HAS A MUCH LONGER, STRANGER, AND MORE HARD-FOUGHT HISTORY THAN MOST PEOPLE REALIZE. For history buffs, I put together a reading list tracing the battles over censorship, dissent, toleration, and free expression from the ancient world to the present.

HIGHER ED DOESN’T HAVE A PERCEPTION PROBLEM: Americans picture more ideological diversity on campus than the evidence supports. A closer look lowers confidence. Perhaps universities should spend less time managing perceptions and more time asking what those perceptions are hiding.

AMERICANS ARE GIVING HIGHER ED TOO MUCH CREDIT: The public substantially underestimates the ideological imbalance of the professoriate. When people learn how lopsided it really is, confidence declines. Reality turns out to be lousy PR.

HIGHER ED’S CONFIDENCE PROBLEM IS WORSE THAN IT LOOKS: Americans already think college faculties are far more ideologically balanced than they are. Give them a clearer picture and confidence falls. Apparently the problem isn’t just the sales pitch.

NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES HAVE ALWAYS CHANGED WHO GETS TO QUESTION AUTHORITY. The printing press brought millions of new minds into the conversation. Social media brought billions. Free speech is what lets that scrutiny produce discovery, correction, and progress.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE GAVE AMERICANS A LASTING LANGUAGE OF EQUALITY AND RIGHTS. On The Blessings of Liberty, Jeffrey Rosen talks with historian Ted Widmer about how generations of Americans have drawn on its promises to expand freedom.

THE FURTHER LEFT STUDENTS LEAN, THE WORSE THEIR MENTAL HEALTH. In FIRE’s survey of 55,000+ students, 57% of very liberal students reported poor mental health at least half the time, versus 34% of very conservative students. Why? Check it out on ERI.

THE FOUNDERS BUILT A SYSTEM FOR FLAWED PEOPLE. THE SOVIETS TRIED TO BUILD NEW PEOPLE FOR THE SYSTEM. Robert P. George joins Jeffrey Rosen on why liberty requires limits on power.

 NO ADMINISTRATION CALLS ITS ATTACKS ON FREE SPEECH “CENSORSHIP.” The trick is to redefine the speech you want to suppress as something else entirely. Watch Part 1 of FIRE’s 1AX: Trump 2.0.

CYBERCRIME LAWS ARE BECOMING A CONVENIENT NEW HOME FOR OLD-FASHIONED CENSORSHIP. A UN treaty meant to fight online crime could make it easier for governments to help one another investigate and punish speech that authoritarian states simply redefine as “serious” crime.

A FREE SOCIETY REQUIRES A THICKER SKIN: In The Coddling of the American Mind, Jonathan Haidt and I argued that treating offense as harm makes people more fragile, institutions more censorious, and free inquiry harder to sustain.