AFSA Spotlight: Week of 10/7/2022

Written By James Bacon

Weekly highlights from our friends at the Alumni Free Speech Alliance:Stanford Alumni Free Speech Group joined AFSA: https://www.stanfordalumnifreespeech.orgAFSA board member Lauren Noble wrote an article about Yale’s free speech codes: https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2022/09/28/yale_is_abandoning_its_own_free_speech_codes_110769.htmlThe Jefferson Council board member Ann McLean co-authored the following article in The Federalist, discussing free speech suppression at UVA, W&L, VMI (3 AFSA members) as well as elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia: https://thefederalist.com/2022/10/03/to-see-how-marxists-plan-to-destroy-america-look-at-their-war-on-virginias-history/Janice Traflet, Bucknell University professor and Open Discourse Coalition affiliate, wrote an article about speaking fearlessly despite the threat of cancel culture:  https://www.realclearpennsylvania.com/articles/2022/10/05/learning_to_speak_fearlessly_in_the_midst_of_college_cancel_culture_857423.htmlFree Speech Highlights: Robert P. George of Princeton University wrote about the lack of meaningful formal commitments to free speech, viewpoint diversity and academic freedom at colleges and universities: https://www.deseret.com/magazine/2022/9/26/23287389/robbie-george-a-genuine-independence-princeton-universityCharles Lipson, a contributor at RealClear Politics, wrote a short guide to restoring free speech at colleges: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/09/30/restoring_free_speech_at_our_universities_148260.htmlJudge Laurence Silberman, who passed away this week, delivered a speech about censorship on Constitution Day (Sept. 2) at his alma mater, Dartmouth College:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/free-speech-is-the-most-fundamental-american-value-constitution-day-first-amendment-political-unity-communism-values-11664560788?mod=hp_opin_pos_3#cxrecs_s

James Bacon

After a 25-year career in Virginia journalism, James A. Bacon founded Bacon’s Rebellion in 2002 a blog with the goal of “Reinventing Virginia for the 21st Century.” Its focus is on building more prosperous, livable and sustainable communities. In recent years he has concentrated more on the spread of “woke” ideology in K-12 schools, the criminal justice system, higher education, and medicine.

In 2021, he co-founded The Jefferson Council to preserve free speech, intellectual diversity, and the Jeffersonian legacy at his alma mater the University of Virginia. He previously served as the organization’s executive director, now serving as congributing editor.

Aside from blogging, Bacon writes books. His first was Boomergeddon: How Runaway Deficits Will Bankrupt the Country and Ruin Retirement for Aging Baby Boomers — And What You Can Do About It, followed by Maverick Miner: How E. Morgan Massey Became a Coal Industry Legend and a work of science fiction, Dust Mites: the Siege of Airlock Three.

A Virginian through-and-through, Bacon lives in Richmond with his wife Laura.

https://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp/
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