Welcome to ‘The Torch’

Today is the first official day of the new FIRE blog. Those who are familiar with weblogs will recognize both the format (the “group blog”) and the tone (slightly more familiar than the formal press releases on our home page). This blog represents FIRE’s decisive step into the daily debate over academic freedom and individual liberty on campus. While our work has had national impact, recent events—such as the Ward Churchill case and the ongoing controversies at Columbia and Harvard—demonstrate the need for FIRE’s unique nonpartisan voice in the blogosphere.

Regular contributors will include FIRE Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Greg Lukianoff as well as Program Officers Robert Shibley and Minnie Quach. We are particularly pleased that our cofounders, Alan Charles Kors and Harvey Silverglate, the chairman and vice chairman of FIRE, will contribute on occasion.

As you read The Torch, you will see that FIRE is truly nonpartisan. Our founders, our leaders, and our staff cross the political spectrum. On this page, you will read convincing defenses of free speech, religious freedom, due process, and freedom of conscience from the left and the right.

Finally, if you faithfully read The Torch, you will be astounded at the magnitude of the problem on our campuses. Our FIRE press releases do not describe the total incidents of campus repression and in fact represent a small fraction of the more than 350 formal case submissions (and thousands of emails) that FIRE receives every year. This blog will give you a greater sense of the scope of the problem and of FIRE’s relentless efforts to expose and defeat the enemies of liberty on campus.

At the end of each post, you will see a link to an email address. We appreciate your comments and your thoughts, and we want you to ask questions and engage us in debate and dialogue. The most thought-provoking messages will be posted and commented upon by FIRE staff. Also, please feel free to use that email address to report campus abuses and to ask us questions about our work.

Welcome to The Torch. We hope that you will find it interesting, enlightening, and compelling.