Keith Whittington, chair of the Academic Freedom Alliance, said the new alliance is unusual because alumni groups don’t typically focus on free speech, and when they do, they are often on the side of restricting speech on college campuses.
“That leaves alumni as the only university stakeholders with the numbers and clout to lead the defense of free speech, academic freedom and viewpoint diversity in campus environments,” Taylor and Yingling wrote in the Journal. Additionally, university trustees, presidents and other administrators “are often too timid to push back against the culture of intolerance on their campuses,” they wrote in a press release announcing the alliance’s formation. and Yingling wrote in The Wall Street Journal that alumni need to take up the fight because students and faculty may feel “too exposed to attacks to take a stand against campus culture.” Student free speech groups don’t have many members, and faculty may feel outnumbered, they wrote. Higher Education’s Role in the Era of the Great ResignationĪlliance co-founders Stuart Taylor Jr.
