Free Speech Under Attack – Again
Sixty years later, history has hit “repeat” on the fight for free speech at North Carolina’s public universities.
In 1963, it was one bill – the infamous Speaker Ban law – passed on one day at the end of the legislative session.
Now, it’s bill after bill, step after step, day after day: the legislature, trustees and administrators squelching free speech and imposing a right-wing ideology at taxpayer-funded campuses across the state.
Universities can’t talk about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
A UNC-Wilmington dean is fired because he revealed that the Chancellor told him to give a campus award to a “conservative.”
UNC-Chapel Hill trustees are pushing a School of Civic Life and Leadership to promote “conservative” and “right-of-center” views.
The legislature took away the governor’s power to appoint any university trustees and stacked the boards with political allies.
Hugh Stevens (pictured), long North Carolina’s leading First Amendment attorney, has written a powerful article about the Speaker Ban Law and how it shaped his life and career 60 years ago.
It’s worth reading – and heeding what that history tells us today.
Stevens’ article: https://aboutthefirstamendment.com/2023/06/26/how-jesse-helms-and-the-speaker-ban-law-changed-my-life-2/
Free Speech Under Attack – Again
Sixty years later, history has hit “repeat” on the fight for free speech at North Carolina’s public universities.
In 1963, it was one bill – the infamous Speaker Ban law – passed on one day at the end of the legislative session.
Now, it’s bill after bill, step after step, day after day: the legislature, trustees and administrators squelching free speech and imposing a right-wing ideology at taxpayer-funded campuses across the state.
Universities can’t talk about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
A UNC-Wilmington dean is fired because he revealed that the Chancellor told him to give a campus award to a “conservative.”
UNC-Chapel Hill trustees are pushing a School of Civic Life and Leadership to promote “conservative” and “right-of-center” views.
The legislature took away the governor’s power to appoint any university trustees and stacked the boards with political allies.
Hugh Stevens (pictured), long North Carolina’s leading First Amendment attorney, has written a powerful article about the Speaker Ban Law and how it shaped his life and career 60 years ago.
It’s worth reading – and heeding what that history tells us today.
Stevens’ article: https://aboutthefirstamendment.com/2023/06/26/how-jesse-helms-and-the-speaker-ban-law-changed-my-life-2/