Ken WhiteApr 23, 2023

FIRE notes that TPUSA targeted 61 professors in 2021. FIRE doesn’t note that it sponsored a TPUSA “free speech” event in 2017. One of my criticisms of FIRE is that it occasionally has difficulty distinguishing between free speech supporters and people who support speech they agree with.

https://www.thefire.org/news/report-scholars-punished-their-speech-skyrocketed-over-last-three-years

REPORT: Scholars punished for their speech skyrocketed over last three years

A new report from FIRE finds that attempts to punish college and university scholars for their speech skyrocketed over the past two decades, from only four in 2000 to 145 in 2022.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Show threadSapphic LawyerApr 23, 2023

@Popehat

It's a conservative org masquerading as a free speech org, and occasionally the mask slips.

Show threadKen WhiteApr 23, 2023
@SapphicLawyer it’s litigation history doesn’t support that. But I believe it makes bad PR and emphasis choices sometimes.
Show threadSapphic LawyerApr 23, 2023

@Popehat

Straight from its Wikipedia page.

Show threadAri CohnApr 23, 2023

@SapphicLawyer @Popehat

Hi, worked at FIRE for ~6 years. Can tell you from personal experience, having been a department head who set priorities and managed case intake, that no donor ever influenced or shaped the work we did--it was never even a thought in anyone's mind.

If someone had tried, they'd have been rebuffed. Otherwise, I'd have resigned in protest (along with everyone else).

The argument that an org is conservative if some of its donors are is intellectually lazy.

Show threadArianity

@AriCohn @SapphicLawyer @Popehat i think the people who work at FIRE genuinely believe what they say. But at the same time, the donors know what the result they're getting is going to align with their partisan preference most of the time, just given the context of campus speech.

More 'cat's paw'/dupes than partisanship/maliciousness by the people who work there. The org ends up pushing conservative results even if it's employees are earnest and diverse

Apr 23, 2023 at 6:52amMastodon for Android