Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies insisted universities should have protection from political interference. But Bob Hawke’s education minister John Dawkins dismantled these protections.
A new report has found students and academics critical of China’s Communist Party are being harassed and intimidated by supporters of Beijing. Universities must do more to protect academic freedom.
A Supreme Court ruling on free speech does nothing about toxic online discourse.
Francesco Carta fotografo/Moment via Getty Images
The Mahanoy v. B.L. ruling did not give schools or free-speech advocates the clear lines they may have wanted, but it did attempt to address some of the complexity of modern-day speech.
Enshrining the Model Code on Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom in legislation won’t ensure disagreements on campus remain civil. Here are some practical guidelines on how to disagree well.
Academic freedom will be defined in law. It will keep universities busy with compliance, but the main outcome is more symbolic: the government can say it has stood up for free speech.
The campaign for ‘free speech on campus’ mimics US and UK tactics of using a manufactured crisis to further the goal of increasing conservative political influence in universities.
University students and staff alike reported feeling like they cannot speak their mind due to concerns about the government’s Prevent strategy.
Amir Ridhwan/Shutterstocl
A nationwide report on Islamophobia on campus reveals that friendships between those of different backgrounds is most effective at dispelling racist views.
Protesters showed up at the University of Utah in 2017 during an appearance by Ben Shapiro, the former editor of the alt-right publication Breitbart.
(Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)
Inclusive freedom reflects university values in protecting free thought, inquiry and expression, while protecting the dignity of all students and faculty by allowing them to equally contribute.
Oberlin College’s lawsuit raises issues for global higher education, and has implications for U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
Is a $25 million judgement against Oberlin College going to chill free speech – or is the wealth of a publicly subsidized private college helping polarize debates about race and politics?
Humans have always sought knowledge, all the way back to Eve.
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
A 90-minute presentation in 1968 showed off the earliest desktop computer system. In the process it introduced the idea that technology could make individuals better – if government funded research.
A crowd gathers around speakers during a rally for free speech near the University of California, Berkeley campus.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
On the one-year anniversary of the tragedy in Charlottesville, we asked the presidents of Bowdoin, Elon and the University of Washington whether free speech should be treated differently on campus.
‘Free speech zones’ and other efforts to limit free speech on campus are igniting controversies across the nation.
Chad Zuber/www.shutterstock.com
In new guidance, students and universities could be banned from censoring controversial speakers on campuses following the first ministerial intervention on free speech in 30 years.
Public university professors enjoy great protections when it comes to free speech.
Lightspring/www.shutterstock.com
Despite calls for their ouster, public university professors who utter offensive things enjoy free speech protection. But a scholar argues for another way to respond to what those professors say.