Videos
Exiled from Vanderbilt: How Colleges are Driving Religious Groups off Campus
Featuring Larry Gatlin and Jonathan Rauch!Religious and political groups in the United States have traditionally been free to choose their leaders and members without interference from authorities. That's no longer true at Vanderbilt University, where the school banned belief-based groups from making belief-based decisions about their members and leaders and drove 13 religious student groups off of campus. In this video, FIRE talks to Vanderbilt students and faculty about how this decision is affecting them. Country music legend Larry Gatlin and author and scholar Jonathan Rauch also explain why Vanderbilt has done both its students and the idea of pluralism itself a profound disservice.
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What Every Student Should Know Before Starting College
FIRE's Essay Contest will award $20,000 in scholarships to high school juniors and seniors this fall! Visit http://www.thefire.org/contest to enter. Deadline Nov. 25, 2012.Did you know that some colleges and universities restrict student speech rights? Don't be surprised by campus censorship when you get to college - know before you go!Visit http://www.thefire.org to learn more. For more information on the cases and codes included in the video, visit http://thefire.org/article/14730.html.
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Introducing FIRE's Guide to Free Speech on Campus
First published in 2005, FIRE's Guide to Free Speech on Campus has been distributed to more than 138,000 students, faculty members, alumni, administrators, and citizens across the country as a tool to fight censorship on campus. The new second edition of the Guide has been fully updated for today's students, paying special attention to student expression in the Facebook era and providing readers with fresh examples from FIRE's case archives, important updates from state and federal case law, and incisive analysis.
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12 Terrible Colleges for Free Speech - 2012
FIRE has named America's Top 12 worst colleges for free speech in the Huffington Post. Is your college one of them? Watch and find out, and visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-lukianoff/the-12-worst-schools-for-_b_1382... to learn more!
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Silencing U: Five Outrageous Cases of Campus Censorship
Since our founding in 1999, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has fought to defend the First Amendment on campus and protect students and faculty members whose freedom of expression is in jeopardy. The following video reviews five of the worst cases in our history, and provides a glimpse at the various threats to freedom on campus and the means that FIRE uses to combat them. A special thanks to Mr. Lawrence Post for making this video possible. For more information on these cases or on FIRE's work, visit thefire.org.
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Chris Lee - Campus Freedom Network Conference 2010
In a new video from the 2010 CFN Conference, Chris Lee discusses how Washington State University (WSU) administrators subsidized a group of protesters to disrupt his satirical play, 'Passion of the Musical.'
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Michele Kerr - Campus Freedom Network Conference 2010
Stanford alumna and teacher Michele Kerr describes how Stanford University's Teacher Education Program (STEP) tried to oust her for her views at the 2010 CFN Conference.
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Scootergate!
On August 17, 2010, University of Georgia graduate student Jacob Lovell e-mailed a complaint to UGA Parking Services concerning limited scooter parking. Although Parking Services specifically asks students for both "negative & positive" comments, Lovell spent nearly a month under the threat of punishment after submitting his complaint.
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FIRE and You: Together Changing Campus Culture
With the support of our committed and principled donors, FIRE is making huge strides towards changing the campus culture from one of repression to one of liberty. Please join us in this fight by making a contribution today.
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Braum Katz - Campus Freedom Network Conference 2010
CFN member and former FIRE intern Braum Katz shares his road map for fellow students to get their universities to drop unconstitutional speech codes.
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Penn State's Problem with "God-Given Free Will"
As a member of Penn State's Young Americans for Freedom, Sean Clark fought his university when it decided to revoke the group's charter because of its reference to "God-given free will." With FIRE's help Sean fought back—and won.
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KC Johnson on Dispositions Theory
KC Johnson discusses his brush with Dispositions Theory, and how FIRE helped clear his name.
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Portraits of Terror
The case of Joshua Stulman, a student artist censored by Penn State administrators for presenting a satirical exhibition about terrorism in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank.
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Injustice at SUNY Binghamton
Andre Massena was almost expelled from SUNY Binghamton after he publicly criticized a faculty member he thought was responsible for social injustice. With FIRE's help, Andre graduated.
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Daphne Patai at FIRE's 2010 CFN Conference
Professor Daphne Patai - Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, speaks to attendees at the annual 2010 Campus Freedom Network Conference.
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Jonathan Rauch's Keynote Address
Jonathan Rauch's keynote address at FIRE's annual 2010 Campus Freedom Network conference. Rauch is a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, a senior writer for the National Journal, a corresponding editor for The Atlantic, and the author of Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought.
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Schools Infringing on Free Speech Rights
Watch John Stossel's interview with Greg and former Washington State University student Chris Lee, where they discuss WSU's deplorable attempts to censor Lee's satirical musical and the wider infirmity of politically correct speech codes on campus.
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Greg Lukianoff on Free Speech from 'New Threats to Freedom'
Greg Lukianoff discusses his essay on campus censorship from the book New Threats to Freedom. Are there circumstances under which a person's right to not be offended supersedes a person's right to free speech? Based on the actions of several public universities, it seems that this may be a dangerously common attitude within academia.
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Empty Holsters: Gun Speech on America's Campuses
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is proud to release a new short film, "Empty Holsters: Gun Speech on America's Campuses," highlighting widespread campus censorship of student speech about guns. The film is the first in a new FIRE series focusing on how colleges and universities across America are preventing students and faculty members from speaking out on the weightiest political issues of the day.
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New Threats to Freedom
Templeton Press' new book New Threats to Freedom hits bookstores on May 17, 2010. To mark the release of this volume, which features original essays from a wide variety of noted authors including playwright David Mamet (of Glenngarry Glen Ross fame), journalist Christopher Hitchens, author Christina Hoff Sommers, and many others, FIRE is releasing a brand new video featuring one of the main cases covered in FIRE President Greg Lukianoff's own chapter of the book, "Students Against Liberty."
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FIRE's Adam Kissel Discusses American University's Alex Knepper
At a forum sponsored by Students for Individual Liberty at the University of Virginia, Adam Kissel (director, Individual Rights Defense Program) of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE, see www.thefire.org) discusses a current controversy at American University in Washington, D.C., involving student journalist and political commentator Alex Knepper. Knepper wrote a provocative op-ed in the AU Eagle newspaper about sexual behavior and "date rape" that has resulted in a firestorm of criticism and national attention.Recorded on March 30, 2010, in Newcomb Hall on the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
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Reflecting on 10 Years of FIRE
A short video reflecting on FIRE's ten years of defending individual rights on campus. This video premiered at FIRE's tenth anniversary celebration in New York City on October 22, 2009.
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Radical Speech: Dave Barry Talks About Politically Correct Campuses
Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist and author of more than 30 books, is no stranger to critics trying to censor his writing. The nationally syndicated humorist has written some of our nation's funniest columns—and with the First Amendment on his side, he's been winning the battle for free speech for over 25 years. This new video from FIRE features Barry discussing why freedom of expression is important to him and how today's politically correct college campuses are creating a culture of censorship that stifles humor writing and the opinions of millions of students across the country.
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FIRE's Campus Freedom Network
A short video describing FIRE's Campus Freedom Network and the CFN's annual summer student conference.
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Threats, Coercion, and Bullying at Missouri State
This short documentary covers FIRE's case at Missouri State University, where social work student Emily Brooker was threatened with expulsion after she refused (as a matter of personal belief) to send a signed letter to the Missouri state legislature in favor of homosexual foster parenting and adoption. This violation resulted not only in a federal lawsuit (which the school settled) but also in an official report that found that a culture of intimidation rife in the school's School of Social Work. For instance, many students and faculty stated a fear of voicing differing opinions from the instructor or colleague, and bullying was used by both students and faculty to characterize specific faculty. The 12-minute documentary features interviews with Brooker, faculty at MSU involved in the case, and Missouri state legislator Jane Cunningham.
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Think What We Think...Or Else: Thought Control on the American Campus
In the fall of 2007, the University of Delaware's Office of Residence Life employed mandatory dormitory activities to coerce students to change their thoughts, habits, and values to conform to a highly specified ideological agenda. Following FIRE's campaign, which called the attention of the national media to the Orwellian program and outraged people from all over the political spectrum, UD President Patrick Harker terminated the program. This documentary—produced by FIRE and Free to Choose Media—explains the program's invasive thought-reform activities, the horrified reactions of students and faculty, and FIRE's response.
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FIRE on FOX40 News Binghamton
After Adam Kissel's visit to Binghamton University to speak about FIRE's recent case at BU involving Andre Massena and BU's Department of Social Work, the local FOX News affiliate ran a story on the event.
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Freedom of Oppression
This short, one minute promotional video on FIRE is a visual depiction of those whose freedom of speech has suffered and was produced and edited by Chris Wetzel, a student at Ohio Northern in Ada, OH.
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Adam Kissel at NAS Panel 4: Are the Dorms Being Politicized?
The National Association of Scholars hosted its thirteenth conference, "The Changing Landscape of American Higher Education," in Washington, D.C., on January 9-11. Adam Kissel, Director of the Individual Rights Defense Program, discussed FIRE's highly publicized case at the University of Delaware. NAS and FIRE have often worked together, and both organizations have fought for basic rights on college campuses.
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Greg Lukianoff at the NAS Panel
The National Association of Scholars hosted its thirteenth conference, "The Changing Landscape of American Higher Education," in Washington, D.C., on January 9-11. FIRE's president, Greg Lukianoff, participated in the first panel discussion, which examined the contest between the government's regulatory urges and the explosive energy of new information technologies. NAS and FIRE have often worked together, and both organizations have fought for basic rights on college campuses.
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Liberty in Peril: Speech Codes on our Nation's College Campuses
FIRE's Adam Kissel traveled to Binghamton University (BU) to deliver a speech on "Liberty in Peril: Speech Codes on our Nation's College Campuses." The speech, which was followed by an hour-long question-and-answer period, discussed speech codes nationwide and drew particular attention to FIRE's recent case at BU involving Andre Massena and BU's Department of Social Work. Massena was threatened with suspension and then expulsion after he posted flyers around campus that criticized the Binghamton Housing Authority's director, David Tanenhaus, and criticized the Department of Social Work for having hired him. Although the department dropped the charges against Massena under pressure from FIRE, it seems that a number of professors in the department have continued to attack him through other means. FIRE is investigating these allegations of retaliation, and Adam called on the BU administration to take them very seriously.
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Political Correctness vs. Freedom of Thought - The Keith John Sampson Story
One of FIRE's most shocking cases in 2008 was that of Keith John Sampson, a student-employee at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) who was found guilty of racial harassment for merely reading the book Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan during his work breaks. Thanks to FIRE's involvement and the extensive media coverage of the case, the finding against Sampson was eventually overturned and his school record was cleared, but the story behind this incident is still disturbing months later. Filmmaker Andrew Marcus has produced a short documentary on Sampson's case in the hopes of restoring his reputation and bringing to light the incidents of censorship that are all too common on college campuses today.
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Teaser-- Voices of Vision: The Battle Continues
This short trailer for the second Voices of Vision episode featuring FIRE gives viewers a preview of the topics covered in the full-length video.
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Chainsaw Etiquette at Colorado College
Adam Kissel's appearance on Jon Caldara's television show, Independent Thinking, on KBDI Channel 12 in Colorado. Adam discusses the Colorado College case and its implications with the Independence Institute's Jessica Corry.
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Voices of Vision: The Battle Continues
This episode of the PBS "Voices of Vision" television series highlights FIRE's cases at Le Moyne College, where a graduate student was expelled for defending corporal punishment in the classroom; SUNY Fredonia, where a professor was denied promotion for publicly disagreeing with the university's student conduct policies and affirmative action practices; and the University of New Hampshire, where a student was evicted from his dorm and forced to live out of his car for posting a flyer that joked about the "freshman 15." The film also gives a fresh, inside look into the daily operations of the FIRE office, the jobs of FIRE's staff, and the way FIRE selects cases.
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FIRE in Action: Valdosta State University
This short film highlights FIRE's fight against Valdosta State University's (VSU's) unconstitutional free speech zone policy and chronicles FIRE's victory on behalf of VSU student T. Hayden Barnes, who was expelled for engaging in a peaceful protest. Featuring on-the-scene interviews with Barnes; his attorney, noted First Amendment lawyer Robert Corn-Revere; and FIRE President Greg Lukianoff, this video illustrates the impact of FIRE's work and explains why VSU remains a priority in FIRE's fight for student rights on campus.
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FIRE on Campus: An Introduction to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
This video, directed and produced by "Indoctrinate U" director Evan Coyne Maloney and Andrew Marcus, serves as an introduction to FIRE, its principles and issues, and its commitment to liberty on campus. It then turns to FIRE's case at San Francisco State University, where students endured a months-long investigation for stomping on Hamas and Hezbollah flags during an anti-terrorism protest.
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Make No Law: Protecting Individual Rights on Campus
This episode of the PBS "Voices of Vision" television series documents FIRE's efforts to defend fundamental rights at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro, where students faced discipline for protesting an unconstitutional "free speech zone," and at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, which had banned RAs from leading voluntary Bible studies in their own dorm rooms and on their own time. The film also features an in-depth look at how FIRE selects and conducts its defense of individual rights on campus, including a nuts-and-bolts look at FIRE's operations.
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