Thread by @JeffreyASachs

This gives you some idea of why the Campus Free Speech Crisis narrative has been so damaging. The laws coming out of GOP legislatures right now, along with Trump's XO, have the potential to do enormous damage to academic life.

insidehighered.com/news/2019/09/1…

And the disingenuousness of these laws is striking. E.g. the Wisconsin GOP is considering a bill that would block some campus reps from discussing public policy. Insane! But that's what happens when your "free speech" principles are really just a cipher for partisan resentment.

No surprise, then, that Wisconsin Republicans, like others across the country, have been so ready to attack liberal faculty for legally protected speech.

arcdigital.media/campus-free-sp…

Meanwhile, these new laws (and the threats of funding cuts that often accompany them) are already leading to a crackdown on student right to protest.

teenvogue.com/story/states-l…

We caught a glimpse of that last Spring at the University of Arizona, though thankfully the charges against the students were eventually dropped. Utah State campus PD detained some student protesters under similar circumstances around the same time.

nytimes.com/2019/04/02/us/…

Messy stuff. That's why we should expect universities to adopt a more prophylactic approach in the future, squelching student protests before they even happen. See e.g. Marquette, which just took a massive step backwards. No surprise it's in Wisconsin.

chronicle.com/blogs/letters/…

These laws play well with the GOP base, but they're terrible policy based on a misleading view of academic life. The fact that they're being passed just as the public hysteria over campus free speech has peaked is just one of life's little ironies.

It will take years to undo the damage.