speech axe

the harms of language project

Category: Speechaxe

  • Testing the Limits of Academic Freedom in Germany

    Testing the Limits of Academic Freedom in Germany

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    by

    The Speech Axe Team
    in

    by Jeff Bale The origin of this blog post is a symposium organized by the Speech Axe: Harms of Language project on March 22, 2024.  I learned a great deal from the event. But one idea in particular has stayed with me. As we introduced ourselves that morning, most of us noted that we hadn’t…

  • What’s going on at the University of Alberta?

    What’s going on at the University of Alberta?

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    by

    The Speech Axe Team
    in

    By Sophia Martensen Last January, the University of Alberta announced it would be shifting away from Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) portfolios and replacing them with something new: Access, Community, and Belonging (ACB).   Then, in September, the Mintz Report — from a provincial panel on post-secondary funding– recommended a new funding model for Alberta universities. Among the recommendations, the Report emphasized institutional neutrality and a move away from EDI.   Now, CBC News has reported that the University of Alberta…

  • Uninformed opinionators part 1: On the spurious arguments of Bill Ackman and others

    Uninformed opinionators part 1: On the spurious arguments of Bill Ackman and others

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    by

    The Speech Axe Team
    in

    By Yvette Hacks Ultracrepidarian – “Someone who has no special knowledge of a subject but who expresses an opinion about it.” That’s my word of the day, a word that I learned recently for people who, up to this point, I had referred to as “uninformed opinionators” or more formally epistemic trespassers. In particular, I…

  • ‘Say It Ain’t Divisive!’: How to Stifle the Work of Faculty Unions

    ‘Say It Ain’t Divisive!’: How to Stifle the Work of Faculty Unions

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    by

    The Speech Axe Team
    in

    By Honor Brabazon and Vincent Wong  The article ‘Constitutional boundaries of faculty associations: The political line in the sand’, published in the Commentary section of the September–October 2025 CAUT Bulletin, is the latest in a series of attempts to stifle democratic debate and political engagement in Canadian faculty associations.  The commentary appears to have been precipitated…

  • DEI, CRT and antisemitism

    DEI, CRT and antisemitism

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    by

    The Speech Axe Team
    in

    By Yvette Hacks As we pass through further rounds of campus leader hearing theatre in the US, I want to reflect on an argument that has increasingly been trotted out, linking free speech, antisemitism and DEI (and/or Critical Race Theory) on college campuses, which seems to generate a general lack of trust in university administrations…

  • ‘Woke’ finance bills and the risks to academic freedom

    ‘Woke’ finance bills and the risks to academic freedom

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    by

    The Speech Axe Team
    in

    By William Cook The past year has seen a wave of attacks from Republican state governors and legislatures on so-called ‘woke’ investments in ESG-oriented funds by state institutions – nearly 200 bills across 37 states in 2023. ESG stands for environmental, social and governance investing, which republican lawmakers have targeted for its perceived promotion of…

  • Bigoted speech is not an inoculation

    Bigoted speech is not an inoculation

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    by

    The Speech Axe Team
    in

     By William Cook In recent years, the immune system has become popular analogy for how speech on campus should operate. The argument is thus: just as our body adapts to better defend against pathogens through incremental exposure, so to do our minds adapt to better defend against “objectionable ideas” through incremental exposure. This argument also…