Will Creeley
FIRE Staff Speaker
Since joining FIRE in 2006, Will has successfully defended expressive rights and core civil liberties nationwide. As Legal Director, Will coordinates FIRE’s legal advocacy and oversees FIRE’s Litigation, Legislative and Policy, Policy Reform, and Targeted Advocacy departments. He has appeared on national television and radio on FIRE’s behalf, and has spoken to thousands of students, faculty, administrators, and attorneys about First Amendment rights at events across the country.
A co-author of First Things First: A Modern Coursebook on Free Speech Fundamentals, Will’s writing has been published by The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other outlets. Will edited the second edition of FIRE’s Guide to Due Process and Campus Justice, co-edited the second edition of FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus, and has authored amicus curiae briefs submitted to courts nationwide, including the Supreme Court of the United States and multiple United States Courts of Appeals.
Barred in New York and Pennsylvania, Will is a member of the First Amendment Lawyers Association and serves as co-chair of the Education Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.
Will is a 2006 graduate of New York University School of Law, where he served as an associate executive editor for the New York University Law Review. Will graduated magna cum laude from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2003. A proud native of Buffalo, New York, Will now lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children.
Selected Writings
The problem with rescinding admission
Fighting a faculty gag order at NYs Nassau Community College
Duke-UNC Middle East studies program gets its funding, but concerns remain
Wheres FIRE!? On the case, as always
Censored on Campus? FIRE Will Defend You
Available Speeches
- Free Speech 101: Protecting Free Expression and the First Amendment at our Nation’s Colleges and Universities
- Campus Justice: The Importance of Due Process and Fundamental Fairness in College Proceedings
- FIRE’s “Greatest Hits”: Learning from the Worst Abuses of Campus Rights
- Facebook vs. the First Amendment: Student Speech in the Digital Age
- Student Speech Rights in Court: Case Law Primer and Update
- Correcting Common Mistakes in Campus Speech Policies
Recent Writings
- As campuses reel, a reminder of the First Amendment’s boundaries,
- FIRE to Fifth Circuit: Protect our public libraries ,
- FIRE Statement on Florida Senate Bill 1316,
- Show-Me state censorship: Proposed new rule threatens Missouri’s public libraries,
- City's new policy wrongly muzzles employees,
- That Facebook post about abortion could land you in jail — if South Carolina legislators have their way,
- A weird state law lets Virginians sue books. Politicians are using it to dictate what we can read.,
- To protect school libraries — and American pluralism — check Pico back in,
- FIRE brief asks Eleventh Circuit to keep K-12 speech standards off college campuses,
- ‘Fordham should be ashamed’: Bitter outcome for pro-Palestinian group after university’s four-year fight to censor,
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