Free Speech & Peace

On April 19, 2016, the Charles Koch Foundation was a proud sponsor of the Newseum’s inaugural Free Expression Awards. The Newseum, an institution dedicated to educating the public on First Amendment freedoms, honored three individuals and one group for their dedication to the freedoms of speech, the press, religion, and artistic expression. New York Times […]

While a majority of Americans are able to correctly name freedom of speech as a right protected by the First Amendment, the amendment’s other clauses are less well known, with only one in 10 individuals able to name freedom of the press as a specific right. Although it is not as widely reviewed or discussed […]

April 5 marks the birthday of Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), founder of the Tuskegee Institute (presently known as Tuskegee University) and adviser to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Growing up and working toward an education during Reconstruction, Booker T. Washington embodied the idea that social uplift is best achieved through economic self-determination, a […]

March 26 marks the birthday of Viktor Frankl (1905-1997). Frankl, a psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust and wrote the bestselling Man’s Search for Meaning, originated the idea of logotherapy, which posits that the most powerful motivation for humans is the drive to find meaning in life. Born and raised in Vienna, Frankl studied neurology and […]

Stand Together Trust brought several distinguished voices together at the International Students For Liberty Conference last weekend in Washington, DC, to discuss the essential role toleration plays in a free society. Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and author of one of 2015’s most read articles, “The Coddling of […]

February 14 marks Frederick Douglass’ birthday—not the day he was born, but the day he chose to celebrate his birth. Douglass’ actual birthday and even his birth year remain uncertain. Because he was born a slave, his birth was not recorded. The only date we know for certain is the day he died: February 20, […]

Stand Together Trust’s First-Annual Prize for American Free Speech Essay contest received hundreds of excellent submissions from students around the country who added their voices to a pressing and important debate by answering the question: What is the importance of free speech to a flourishing society? Here are the top essays selected by our panel […]

By Sarah Ruger Each year, Americans recognize the importance of free speech during the third full week in October. There is no shortage of holidays that celebrate our freedoms (Independence Day, Constitution Day, First Amendment Day, etc.), so why does free speech merit a whole week of attention? Because free expression is essential to all […]

The University of New Hampshire has removed a “Bias-Free Language Guide” from its website, following controversy over the guide’s list of offensive terms, including the word “American.” Following the guide, which had been on the university’s Inclusive Excellence website since 2013, was not an absolute requirement, but it advised students and professors on preferred terminology […]

Columbia University has decided not to implement a policy requiring the use of trigger warnings in class syllabi, following a heated debate on whether the practice curbs academic freedom. Trigger warnings, or labels on a work of literature designed to inform students that what they are about to read may incite PTSD, have become increasingly […]