Intro:
Welcome to our July newsletter. We hope you had a happy Fourth! We were celebrating early, so we hope you’ll forgive us for sending this Round Up out on the second (rather than the first) Monday of the month.
The Furman Free Speech Alliance is a rapidly growing group of alumni, parents, and friends who are concerned about Furman University’s deteriorating campus climate for free speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity.
Each month, we update you on what’s happening on the ground at Furman and what actions we’re taking to defend free speech on campus.
Looking Back:
Earlier this month Furman officials confirmed that Professor Chris Healy, who was suspended in 2022, has been fired. Healy’s job has been a controversial subject since 2017, when he attended the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The nature of Healy’s participation in the protest and subsequent violence has not been reported publicly, but what we do know is that Healy is fighting back against Furman’s efforts to dismiss him. When Healy was suspended in 2022, for example, he filed a breach of contract civil action lawsuit against Furman. And today, his firing is the “subject of ongoing litigation” according to university officials.
While key details remain unknown, Healy’s case raises important questions about Furman for everyone in the Furman community. For instance, how does the administration determine if attending a rally is an acceptable form of free speech or a fireable offense? Violence? Does the university intend to investigate and potentially dismiss any professors who attended Black Lives Matter protests that turned violent? Antisemitism? Does the university intend to investigate and potentially dismiss any professors who attended pro-Hamas protests that called for the genocide of Jews? What if a professors or student is attending a protest for academic or journalistic purposes? The list goes on.
University officials are “not providing additional details or commenting further” right now, but they’ll need to soon. Firing a professor is no small matter. All members of the Furman community — and especially Furman faculty — deserve to know how the administration came to this conclusion and what their free speech policies will be moving forward.
One Stat You Should Know:
27% of Furman Democrats said using violence to prevent someone from speaking is always or sometimes acceptable. 6% percent of Republicans said the same.
Looking Ahead:
It is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end, but Furman students will be back on campus as soon as next month. For incoming freshman, that means orientation is on the calendar.
Orientation should be a fun experience that helps students get to know each other and get prepared for fall classes. And perhaps, if you first attended Furman ten years ago, that was precisely your experience.
No more. In addition to “residence hall move in” and “academic advising appointments,” Furman freshmen are now treated to several brainwashing sessions. The innocently named “Life at Furman” event, for example, introduces students to “community expectations, University policies, campus safety, alcohol and drug use, and sexual misconduct.”
In theory, this should be helpful and practical. However, in practice this four-hour event almost always devolves into a struggle session about race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and other controversial topics. In the past, students who offer an unpopular answer have been booed and jeered at by an auditorium full of their peers.
For everyone in attendance, the lesson is clear: shut-up and fall in line.
Furman can do better. If the administration hopes to improve the deteriorating climate for free speech on climate, they should start by re-examining Fall orientation.
In the Network:
Our friends with Harvard Alumni for Free Speech (HAFFS) did a great job this month responding to Lawrence Bobo, the university’s dean of social science, who wrote that “faculty speech must have limits” in the Harvard Crimson. As HAFFS point out, members of an academic community “should be free from reprisal for positions they defend, questions they ask, or ideas they entertain.”