Weve said it before: The greatest threat to democracy from the media isnt disinformation, its the paywall. The foundation has also poured millions into organizations focused on promoting conservative values (and sometimes, hate) on college campuses. [9] [10] Its also donated nearly half a million dollars to the anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom. In addition to funding medical research and more standard philanthropic endeavors, the F.M. The new initiative includes $10 million in planned national cable and billboard advertising featuring activists on both ends of the political spectrum extolling the virtues of free speech, officials said. Its given $15 million to Young Americas Foundation, more than $8 million to the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, as well as smaller donations to the Leadership Institute. [1] [71] The criticism led to the resignation of Charlene Allen, Columbia's program coordinator for the Office of Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Education, whose policies were at the center of the controversy. Its major grants come from the ultraconservative Earhart, John Templeton, and Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundations; the Scaife family foundations; the Koch-linked Donors Trust, and funders that sustain a myriad of conservative campus-targeting organizations that include FIRE, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the David Horowitz Freedom Center (whose Academic Bill of Rights would mandate more hiring of conservative faculty and would monitor professors syllabi for balance), and Campus Watch (which tracks and condemns liberal professors comments on the Middle East). And the PEN report is justified in saying that while free speech is alive and well on campusa conclusion that echoes my own observationsit is not free from threats and must be vigilantly guarded if its continued strength is to be assured.. However, he said in the last fiscal year, about 69 percent of FIREs funding came from individual donors and about 31 percent from foundations. Last year, George Mason University renamed its law school as The Antonin Scalia Law School, following a $10 million contribution from the Charles Koch Foundation. In response, officials from several of the schools criticized OKeefes attempts at shoddy journalism, and noted that the administrators featured in the videos were attempting to do their jobs by assisting a student who appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis. In February, he made an appearance on Fox News Hannity with Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. to discuss how college campuses are islands of totalitarianism & intolerance for students with conservative or freedom beliefs. Kirk has publicly aligned himself with Milo Yiannopoulos in the past, and college chapters of Turning Point USA sponsored several stops on Yiannopoulos ill-fated campus harassment tour earlier this year. Other groups, including the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, say that standard strips away a student's right to due process. January 2, 2023. [1][2][3] FIRE was renamed in June 2022, with its focus broadened to speech rights in American society in general. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. In 2013 and 2014, DonorsTrust also granted a total of $55,000 to the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation to support the work of a higher education writer who was fired from The Chronicle of Higher Education after mocking black studies courses. When you support The American Prospect, youre supporting fellow readers who arent able to give, and countering the class system for information. 03/01/23 8:20 PM EST, Video & Audio 24. No wonder theyre looking to scapegoat frightened students and deans. 02/21/23 11:14 AM EST, Video & Audio The groups funding connections amount to an almost encyclopedic list of conservative organizations, the vast majority with ties to the Koch network of organizations. [56], In October 2011, Catawba Valley Community College suspended a student (Marc Bechtol) for complaining on Facebook about a new policy that required students to sign up for a debit card to get their student ID and grant money. [81] The school's investigation was ultimately dropped and Wallace was allowed to graduate. . ", "Who Funds Conservative Campus Group Turning Point USA? The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is a right-wing free speech elitist organization. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of consciencethe essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity. The Foundation for Economic Education ( FEE) is an American conservative, libertarian economic think tank. I do. [90] That month, FIRE challenged the New York State Senates practice of blocking critics on Twitter, representing a resident who had criticized gun control legislation. Lukianoff said his group also regularly defends left-leaning students and faculty members when their freedom of expression is threatened. Argentina. Do I believe bad actors are abusing this? Although the details are purposely obscured, its likely that the DeVoses -- like Charles and David Koch -- have additionally contributed to groups in this list through the anonymous donor funds DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. Copyright 2023 | The American Prospect, Inc. | All Rights Reserved, The Alt-Labor Chronicles: Americas Worker Centers, The Conservatives Behind the Campus Free Speech Crusade, What the Campus Free Speech Crusade Wont Say. Foundation For Individual Rights in Education filed a lobbying registration on April 13, 2012 for in-house lobbying efforts, effective March 1, 2012. It has also been involved in at least two lawsuits alleging campus discrimination against conservatives -- one supported by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and another in which the group was represented by the anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom. "[51], FIRE joined with a number of other civil liberties groups in the case of Hosty v. Carter, involving suppression of a student newspaper at Governors State University in Illinois,[52] and has been involved in a case at Arizona State University where it condemned the listing of certain sections of a class as open only to Native American students. [46][45][47] In 2020, FIRE supported new rules made by the Department of Education during the Trump administration about sexual assault and harassment cases that required colleges to allow the cross-examination of accusers. [82], In 2022, FIRE released a series of advertisements in Boston, Massachusetts, accusing Emerson College of censoring free speech on campus. 03/02/23 7:59 AM EST, Video & Audio United States. Not only did FIRE secure more victories than ever, but it also succeeded in bringing liberty to thousands more students by welcoming Arizona State University and James Madison University to its list of Maybe the Bard conferees will have better luck. As of August 2020, SPN's membership totals 162. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, is an American organization that defends individual rights, especially the right to free speech, in higher education. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's "Responsible Use Policy" forbids using computing resources "for partisan political purposes" or to "offend" or "annoy" others. FIRE is justified, up to a point, in criticizing black protesters who shout down and intimidate classmates and professors by branding their colleges as racist, and in challenging feminist government and university bureaucrats who impose unfair standards and procedures when judging sexual assault charges. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. It has an annual budget of more than $48 million and a network of more than 3,000 allied attorneys involved in litigating so-called religious freedom cases and spreading dangerous lies about LGBTQ people. Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) is a small nonprofit organization geared toward student libertarians. Now a thorough, mostly well-balanced report by the PEN (Poets, Essayists, and Novelists) American Center confirms that the conservative free speech crusade has gone too far. This past year represented a new level of achievement for FIRE and its cause on campus. Select from premium Foundation For Individual Rights In Education of the highest quality. [2][5] Silverglate had served on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts. Romero, the ACLU chief, said Monday that he agrees free speech is under increasing attack in the U.S. and is pleased that FIRE is branching out. Web the foundation for individual rights in education (fire) is an organization whose work concerns university students and faculty members the organization considers to have. But FIRE itself poses one of those threats when it waves its free speech banner in virtual lockstep with a broader conservative class and culture war against the democratic rights it purports to protect. The PEN reports failure to note all this is perhaps its only major failing. The public list of supposedly biased professors -- which included individuals photos and asked for public submissions of video/photo evidence of alleged bias -- mostly cited right-wing student reporter website Campus Reform, as well as conservative student blog The College Fix, hate group David Horowitz Freedom Center, The Blaze, FoxNews.com, and unfounded videos from Project Veritas. Earlier this month, ADF launched a March Madness-like Bracket of Shame ranking colleges and universities based on their so-called free speech records. The project uses articles from our friends at FIRE, Campus Reform, College Fix, and others to inform the bracket. FIRE, by contrast, raised under $16 million in its last fiscal year. FIRE has partnered with anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom for some of these cases. Since its inception, FIRE has received funding from a variety of conservative foundations, including millions from some linked to billionaire Charles Koch. 4 min read. Lukianoff acknowledged disappointment with major liberal foundations, who have balked at supporting FIREs efforts. After FIRE publicly criticized the decision, Garneau was reinstated. we look at the ways in which right-wing populism has sought to (re)shape divisions based on race, religion and nationalities, among other things; how political and pedagogic practices are being (re)imagined to counter these divisions and populist moves; and the stakes of bringing the question . Email: ROBERT@THEFIRE.ORG. Top contributors to the David Horowitz Freedom Center include the right-wing Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and anonymous conservative donors through DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. "[25][26] Ira Glasser, former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), serves on FIRE's Advisory Council. The Charles Koch Foundation is the private philanthropic organization of oil billionaire Charles Koch. Web the foundation for individual rights in education, or fire, is an american organization that defends individual rights, especially the right to free speech, in higher. Waiver of right of respondent United States to . Lukianoff declined to detail who has contributed the $28 million for the new initiative or what prompted them to offer funding. Lukianoff said FIRE has raised $28.5 million for a planned three-year, $75 million litigation, opinion research and public education campaign aimed at boosting and solidifying support for free-speech values. It has also frequently weighed in on sexual misconduct cases, arguing that the definition of sexual harassment should not include large amounts of constitutionally protected expression, such as any unwanted sexual comments, gestures, jokes, or looks, and defended campus organizations that use hateful rhetoric or seek to exclude potential group members based on sexual orientation. College campuses have long served as unique places for the free exchange of ideas -- but increasingly theyve also become playgrounds for ideologically driven, right-wing billionaires and the dark-money groups they fund. FIRE took the side of the student. Theres a very strong belief in not just the First Amendment, but a culture of freedom of speech that black or white, liberal or conservative that most Americans think you should be entitled to your own opinion and not have to lose your job over that, Lukianoff said. "[75], In 2015, FIRE defended Erika Christakis, associate master of Yale University's Silliman College, after she questioned the school's Intercultural Affairs Council for highlighting the cultural implications of Halloween costumes. He also has ties to the Trump administration, asProject Veritas has received funding from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. [4] [5] [6] Founded in 1946 in New York City, FEE is now headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. FIRE cant acknowledge that the more market-driven a university, the more restrictive itlike any business corporationis of individual rights in education. Reports indicate that the Charles Koch Foundation is one of several Koch funding groups donating to universities and think tanks to forward their political goals and to build a talent pipeline of libertarian-minded students. The foundation supports free-market teachings at the university level, including by funding individual faculty positions. It offers guidance and resources to students for starting and supporting campus chapters, including an abolish abortion app, recruitment strategies and materials, and activism kits. SFLAs resources for students push numerous myths about womens reproductive health care in an effort to demonize choice. [103][104], In February 2022, FIRE produced an advertisement featuring National Basketball Association (NBA) player Enes Kanter Freedom for the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, supporting freedom of speech. Funding Rounds Number of Funding Rounds 1 Total Funding Amount $2.5M Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has raised a total of $2.5M in funding over 1 round. [73] FIRE, along with Brandeis' own Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities, criticized Krauss for never explicitly telling Hindley what specific in-class comments constituted harassing speech and for not granting Hindley a process by which to appeal the decision. 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