What History Teaches Us About the Importance of Academic Freedom
This 1949 primer shows us there’s nothing new about today’s controversies about free speech on campus.
James Huffman
· 12 min read
Academia
A collection of 61 posts
If The Findings Detract, You Must Retract
How dissent is policed in social science.
Jukka Savolainen
· 10 min read
McMaster’s Imaginary Sex Ring
In 2020, a Canadian university tore up its psychology department in search of a non-existent network of sexual predators. Documents obtained by Quillette reveal how administrators allowed it to happen.
Jonathan Kay
· 51 min read
Gender’s Truth-Distortion Field
Across the English-speaking world, the discussion of trans rights is governed by taboos, sacred myths, and, in some cases, outright lies.
Sean Masters, Raimund Hume
· 10 min read
Campus Speech and Compromised Safety
As universities try desperately to serve two masters (knowledge production; diversity and inclusion), they will increasingly end up sanctioning speech that should be protected.
Holly Lawford-Smith
· 9 min read
Campus Puritans Come for an Astronomer—And His Byline
By demanding that morality tests be imposed on scientific journal authorship, Geoff Marcy’s critics are creating a dangerous precedent.
Lawrence M. Krauss
· 13 min read
Critical Race Theory Has a Scholarship Problem
For many critical theorists, the true dividing line isn't privileged people versus the oppressed; it's people who agree with them versus those whose motives cannot be trusted.
Julian Adorney
· 7 min read
What Is a Woman? Many Philosophers Know, But Aren’t Allowed to Say
An April 17 Quillette article about sex and gender by MIT scholar Alex Byrne prompted yet another round of debate and denunciation among his contemporaries.
Thomas Palmer
· 18 min read
Philosophy’s No-Go Zone
An MIT professor describes the outraged reaction from fellow philosophers when he argued that a woman is an adult human female.
Alex Byrne
· 19 min read
The Real Reasons Why the English Department Died
Most professors would rather watch it die than reform.
Adam Ellwanger
· 9 min read
Is There Such a Thing as a Good Academic-Activist?
The problem isn’t that some academics are activists. It’s that some academics do activism badly.
Holly Lawford-Smith
· 10 min read
Gender Equity When It Suits
Organisations should apply the principle evenhandedly.
Anthony Jorm
· 6 min read
The Overregulation of Science
Overly burdensome rules dampen enthusiasm for research and delay scientific progress.
Evan D Morris
· 11 min read
Stuck in the Middle (of Academia)
Academia is a mess, but there is still hope.
Christopher J. Ferguson
· 12 min read
In the World of Astrophysics, One Failed Cancel Campaign Led to Another
When Hakeem Oluseyi exposed false claims about former NASA director James Webb, anti-Webb activists tried to take Oluseyi down as well.
Jonathan Kay
· 9 min read