Education researchers are warning that a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule will limit research and give political appointees greater influence over federal grant decisions. ⤵️

Education researchers warn political review of federal grants could reshape what gets studied

Critics say the White House proposal could curtail studies of achievement gaps and the long-term research that led to the science of reading

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How can proposed accreditation rules affect academic freedom protections and free speech on college campuses? Read more in this op-ed in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Opinion | Trump’s Gift to Academic Freedom? It’s Complicated.

New standards for accreditation would protect campus speech more robustly than current law does.

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2025-2026 VOICE Recipient Josiah Beharry is featured for "Comic Relief: Punching Up in a World that Keeps Knocking Us Down," a project funded by the Center’s VOICE initiative. 🔗

UC Merced Magazine | Spring Summer 2026

This interactive flipbook is created with FlippingBook, a service for streaming PDFs online. No download, no waiting. Open and start reading right away!

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Professor Anna Harwell Celenza joined @ucfreespeech.bsky.social's Speech Matters podcast to explore music, democracy, and America at 250, from "Strange Fruit" to the songs that shaped a nation. 🎙️ podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

🎧 Tune in to the latest #SpeechMatters episode, “Sounds of Democracy: Music and America at 250” with guest @annacelenza.bsky.social from Johns Hopkins University. ▶️ buff.ly/pwhmmxn

A new rule caps international student visas at four years regardless of program length. Critics say the change could weaken U.S. higher education. Read more:

Trump administration caps student visa stays at 4 years under final rule

Critics have castigated the measure, arguing it ignores average degree completion times and creates unnecessary burdens for international students.

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2026-2027 Fellow Daniel Lane is featured for his upcoming Center research, “AI as a Civic Educator: Artificial Intelligence and the Civic Future of American College Students.” buff.ly/VzHp0Ce

Comm scholar Dan Lane named UC fellow for research on AI and civic engagement

Comm scholar Dan Lane named UC fellow for research on AI and civic engagement

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A federal appeals court ruled that the higher education provisions of Florida’s Stop WOKE Act violate the First Amendment. Read more:

DeSantis-backed 'Stop WOKE' law meets appeals court block, teeing up possible Supreme Court fight

A Trump-appointed judge ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis' "Stop WOKE Act," leaving Florida’s college speech limits blocked as a Supreme Court appeal looms.

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Several students at Florida International University are penalized for violating a campus policy that bans expressive activities from taking place indoors. ⬇️

FIU Students Punished for Indoor Protest

Florida International University is penalizing seven students for a silent protest they held in March, in which they stood in the audience of a campus event wearing shirts reading, “ICE OFF FIU,”…

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Center National Advisory Board member Alex Edgar discusses why strengthening democracy requires collaboration across generations.👇

Gen Z isn’t here to "fix" democracy alone—we have to do it together.

The Youth250 co-founder and first Gen Z board member of Points of Light says young people can’t save democracy alone, and shouldn’t have to.

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The University of Tennessee System is updating its academic freedom and tenure policies to comply with a new state law. Read more:👇

University of Tennessee changes policy for how it disciplines faculty - AOL

The changes comply with a new state law passed in reaction to a handful of professors' critical comments on Charlie Kirk after his assassination.

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A new North Carolina law prohibits public colleges from reporting or investigating unwanted speech that is protected by the First Amendment.👇

North Carolina Republicans ban DEI at public colleges

The new law took effect immediately and came after legislators overrode a veto from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.

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A new bill introduced in Ohio would give civic centers at public universities more power in curriculum development and faculty matters, raising concerns about shared governance.

Ohio bill would broaden power of university civics center directors

The politically created academic centers have drawn fierce criticism from faculty, who say they expand state intrusion into higher education.

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A former University of Tennessee at Knoxville professor reached a settlement in her lawsuit against the university. Her lawsuit alleged she was fired in retaliation for speech protected by the First Amendment. 🔗 buff.ly/SniNosM

A national advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the UC system alleging its anti-harassment policies violate free speech. Read more:

Center Executive Director Michelle Deutchman comments on student expression and campus free speech. Read more: ⤵️

Universities Hiring Student Expression Specialists

The new staff members will focus on creating, explaining and enforcing college speech policies following years of escalating campus protest activity.

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The American Association of Colleges and Universities released a framework for advancing public trust in higher education. Read it here:

🚨 New #SpeechMatters podcast alert! Tune in to “A Conversation with UC President James B. Milliken” with guest University of California President James B. Milliken. ▶️ buff.ly/SgCWhIa

Fellows Jackie Pedota (22-23) and Eliza Epstein (23-24) describe the effects of anti-DEI laws and how colleges (over-)comply with them. Read the op-ed:

How Universities Expand the Reach of Anti-DEI Laws (opinion)

Colleges and universities amplify the impacts of anti-DEI laws through the processes they use to (over-)comply with them.

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Center Executive Director Michelle Deutchman argues that safeguarding free expression in higher education requires stakeholders having a deeper understanding of its value and purpose. ⬇️

Knowledge Is Power: Preserving Expression in Higher Education

Misunderstanding of the First Amendment and growing despair over government interference in speech threaten higher education and democracy.

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Center National Advisory Board Member Mark Yudof discusses institutional neutrality and how to determine who can (and cannot) speak on behalf of universities. 🔗

Who Speaks for the University? Guidelines Needed (opinion)

The next critical step for institutional neutrality policies is to set clear, written rules on who is—and isn’t—permitted to speak on behalf of the institution.

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A newly released report on scholarship in the humanities and humanistic social sciences has stirred up controversy with its claims that certain disciplines have substituted rigorous research for furthering political aims. Read the report:

Diabetes researchers were removed from a conference in New Orleans after handing out copies of an editorial criticizing the Trump administration.👇

The University of Nebraska at Kearney discontinued the use of a human-sexuality textbook following a student complaint, a move that Pen America says raises concerns about growing campus censorship. Read more:

University of Nebraska at Kearney Bans Human Sexuality Textbook

What prohibits future complaints from leading to further censorship in other disciplines? Textbooks aren’t harmful–censorship is.

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A faculty senate survey found that restrictions on race, gender and sexuality introduced at Texas Tech University last year led faculty to change or field requests to change content for 277 courses. Many respondents cited concerns about academic freedom.

Half of Texas Tech Faculty Censored Courses for Race, Gender

Restrictions on race, gender and sexuality instruction introduced late last year at Texas Tech University led faculty to change or field requests to change content for 277 courses, according to a new…

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Legislation signed in Iowa will require future undergraduates at the state’s three public universities to take courses in American history and government designated by civic centers. 🔗

Iowa Undergrads Will Now Take Courses Picked by Civics Centers

Future undergraduates at Iowa’s three public universities must take a “comprehensive survey of all American history” course, plus a second such course in American government, following legislation…

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A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Military Academy at West Point cannot enforce two speech policies that a law professor alleges were intended to suppress faculty speech. ⬇️

West Point speech policies paused for civilian faculty by federal judge

U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel called one of the military college's rules a "broad and standardless intrusion" on civilian faculty's constitutional rights.

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🚨 Our 2026-27 VOICE Initiative applications close TODAY! Get those applications in by tonight at 11:59 pm PT 👇 buff.ly/iguJq9m

Former Fellow John Wilson explores the relationship between public trust and academic freedom in his column in Inside Higher Ed. Read more ⬇️

The Rush to Trust Endangers Academic Freedom

Higher education cannot sacrifice its core values on the altar of trust.

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The Yale University Chapter of the AAUP released a report on the state of academic freedom at Yale based on a faculty survey. Explore the report here:

The State of Academic Freedom at Yale

A Report from the Yale Chapter of the AAUP — SPRING 2026 This report presents findings from a survey of the Yale faculty on the state of academic freedom at the University. The survey was conducted…

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