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--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's July 24th, and this is your Sunday edition of Morning Wire.
--:-- John Bickley: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm John Bickley.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Today, we're talking about the state of academic freedom on college campuses. A University of Washington computer science professor is suing his employer, claiming his First Amendment rights were violated. This is just the latest battle over freedom of speech on college campuses.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. And we're joined today by Carrie Sheffield, Senior Policy Analyst at Independent Women's Voice. Carrie, thanks for being here.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Thanks for having me, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So, Carrie, this is an issue we've been hearing about for a few years now, but just this month we saw another professor resign. Before we dive into those specifics, tell us what's been happening on college campuses.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Well, we are seeing an epidemic of self-censorship. College campuses are kind of the epicenter, but we're really seeing it everywhere. In July of 2020, the Cato Institute released research about political expression and self-censorship. It found 62% of Americans say the political climate prevents them from saying what they believe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's a staggering number. And it's not just conservatives who are being censored on campuses. There have been instances of left-wing professors being punished for questioning established academic findings.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Absolutely. For example, the University of Alabama's Jamie Riley, the former dean of students, resigned after conservatives resurfaced past tweets where Riley criticized the American flag and made a connection between police and racism.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then there's the case of Peter Boghossian, the atheist philosophy professor at Portland State University. He was disciplined for his role in challenging the grievance studies program.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: That's right. Boghossian resigned in October as a result of ongoing harassment. He said he fought back against a liberal censorious ideology and the people who hired him to do a job that they themselves prevented him from doing.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And more recently, we saw a high-profile resignation at Georgetown University Law Center. Ilya Shapiro resigned after being investigated for a tweet he made about President Biden's Supreme Court nominee.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: That's right. Shapiro said he was upset because he felt that Biden was wrongly narrowing his candidate pool based on gender and race rather than job qualifications.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But what's interesting is that Georgetown took no action against other professors who made similar comments, but were more liberal in nature.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: That's right. Shapiro pointed out that other Georgetown professors had made statements deemed offensive to people on the right side of the political aisle, but received no similar censure or warnings.
--:-- John Bickley: Carrie, can you tell us more about the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE? They're an organization that's been defending free speech on campus.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Yes. FIRE is a leader in the fight for campus freedom. They've been around for about 23 years and have won over 500 direct advocacy victories on behalf of college students and faculty members.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's impressive. And it's worth noting that FIRE defends speech from both the left and the right.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: That's right. They're not just a conservative organization. They're a defender of free speech, period.
--:-- John Bickley: Carrie, thanks for sharing your expertise with us today.
--:-- Carrie Sheffield: Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And that brings us to the end of our episode today. As always, thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We hope you enjoyed it and we look forward to hearing listener feedback.
--:-- John Bickley: Leaving a review and a comment really helps our show and it helps us climb the podcast rankings and get a fresh perspective out there. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: And don't forget to text WIRE to 989898 and secure the gains you've made while you can.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
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