MEMO RE: EVENTS OF JULY 4, 1776: Is everyone else being buried in emails and notices about Europe’s new data protection regulations (GDPR)? I am sure there are many fine provisions, but “the right to be forgotten” has serious First Amendment problems. I hereby notify readers that FIRE will not be subjecting the information we host to the judgments of EU bureaucrats. Because America.

AG SESSIONS ON CAMPUS FREE SPEECH: This is America. The government should have a position on free speech on public campuses, and given our Constitution that position should be for freedom of speech, not against it. It’s nice to see DOJ recognizing that Americans on campus are being denied justice, and getting involved in defending that most precious of civil rights.

NOBODY EXPECTS THE KENTUCKY INQUISITION: But they probably should. Fox News reports on the University of Kentucky’s Bias Incident Response Team, whose rules FIRE declared to be the Speech Code of the Month for May. Mock the wrong person, even unintentionally, and a panel (including police) may be having a word with you. And before people complain about my comparison (yes, I know UK doesn’t kill anyone), give a listen to Episode 8 of the excellent podcast Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech, where Danish free speech advocate Jacob Mchangama reminds us that the Inquisition was first and foremost dedicated to “correcting” “errors” of belief and speech. Punishment was for the stubborn and recalcitrant.

MCCARTHY ON THE CHARLES: Harvard professes to be so concerned about discrimination that it has literally set up a blacklist for students found “guilty” of joining off-campus single-sex social groups such as sororities, fraternities, and “final clubs,” making a mockery of freedom of association. The Harvard Crimson today reports on efforts in Congress to preserve this freedom, and Harvard’s counter-effort. This after Harvard blacklisted gays in the 1920s (driving one student to suicide) and Communists in the 50s. Now that institution, whose wealth would embarrass Scrooge McDuck, demands the right to continue to receiving federal funding while persecuting sorority girls. Have you no sense of decency, Harvard, at long last?

OPPOSITE COAST, SAME PROBLEM: It’s not just Pomona College where students are uncomfortable sharing their political views. Student newspaper The Dartmouth reports that 77% of Democrat and a whopping 94% of Republican students in an online poll believe “the climate on Dartmouth’s campus prevents some people from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive.” Colleges talk a lot about creating a “welcoming environment.” Whatever it is they’re doing, it doesn’t seem to be working that well.

DEPT. OF NO ACCOUNTABILITY, NOVEL THEORIES DIVISION: Video of a SUNY Binghamton police officer, who clearly drew the short straw, telling students that they’re somehow responsible if other people take the flyers they’re passing out and throw them on the ground. It’s amazing what kind of rules you can come up with when you think you’ll never have to defend them. You will of course be shocked to discover that the flyers were critical of Binghamton administrators.

LONG-TIME LURKER, FIRST-TIME POSTER: I’m Robert Shibley, the executive director of FIRE (and author of Twisting Title IX). As a daily follower of Instapundit from almost the very beginning, I couldn’t be more excited to be here.