Virginia

Nothing says defending free speech like bringing a box cutter to cut someone's sign down. ⬆️ is ⬇️. https://washingtonpost.com/education/2022/07/24/college-alumni-free-speech-groups/

HIGHER EDUCATION

College alumni groups spread nationally to counter ‘cancel culture’

Independent groups are forming to promote free speech on some university campuses

By Susan Svrluga
July 24, 2022 at 7:00 a.m. EDT



Bert Ellis leads the Jefferson Council at University of Virginia to protect several traditions. (Jason Lappa for The Washington Post)

Alumni groups pressing free-speech issues are popping up at colleges in many states, as debates over academic freedom, “cancel culture” and changes on campus intensify. ... More than a dozen groups have joined the Alumni Free Speech Alliance, a group announced last fall that now includes graduates from schools including Harvard, Bucknell, Yale and Cornell universities, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Wofford and Davidson colleges. Organizers say hundreds of people from schools all across the country have contacted them, all graduates who have questions they say their traditional alumni associations are not asking. ... To join, the groups must hold freedom of speech, academic freedom and viewpoint diversity as primary missions, said Edward Yingling, president of the alliance and a founder of Princetonians for Free Speech. “There is a feeling that a lot of universities are losing their way,” Yingling said. “There is very little diversity of thought.”

The alumni groups vary in size, character and sophistication. Some have distinctly conservative roots, even if they are now seeking to ensure that all viewpoints are represented. One of the first to organize, the Generals Redoubt, has been fighting to preserve the traditions of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., an idea echoed by graduates at some nearby colleges with long and complicated histories, such as the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia. ... Tom Rideout, president of Generals Redoubt, said while preserving Gen. Robert E. Lee’s legacy at the school is one of the group’s priorities, free speech is “the big ongoing issue where we will be spending more and more time as we go along.”

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At U-Va., the president of such an alumni group, the Jefferson Council, was recently appointed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to join the university’s board of visitors, significantly amplifying the group’s voice and clout. “The pendulum,” said Bert Ellis, the new board appointee and an entrepreneur, “is swinging back.” {snip} Ellis, the Jefferson Council president, said he was shocked by a sign cursing the University of Virginia that a student posted nearly two years ago on her door to one of the rooms on the school’s historic Lawn. After trying to talk with the student, and bringing a box cutter to take down the sign if she had not been home, he and other alumni later formed the council to preserve some of the school’s history and to fight for free-speech issues. ... Ellis has said the Jefferson Council supports the student’s right to say or post anything, but not on the Lawn that Thomas Jefferson designed, a part of U-Va. designated as a World Heritage Site. But not all are convinced. “What they seem to actually be protecting is a version of right-wing ideology that is framed as free speech and framed as neutral when it is not neutral,” Woolfork said.

“If there is one thing that is common to every university in the world, it is alumni who believe their school started going downhill after they graduated,” Larry Sabato, a professor of politics at U-Va., wrote in an email. But he said the facts belie that, as the highly regarded university attracts “diverse and talented students from all over the globe” and continues to lead on important issues through education and research. After more than 50 years in the U-Va. community, he said he is “incredibly proud of the progress we have made during that time and excited about what the future holds.”

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By Susan Svrluga
Susan Svrluga is a reporter covering higher education for The Washington Post. Before that, she covered education and local news at The Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/SusanSvrluga