Alex Morey

Philadelphia, Wisconsin

Director, Individual Rights Defense Program at FIRE

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Articles

Strife among the sociologists

Nov 4, 2024 | chronicle.com | Alex Morey |Len Gutkin |Lee Alan Dugatkin |Franklin Eccher

Over several months this year, the prominent sociologist Loïc Wacquant’s 2022 monograph The Invention of the “Underclass": A Study in the Politics of Knowledgehas been the subject of a series of reviews — by Claire Dunning, Hilary Silver, Zachary Levenson, and Marcus Anthony Hunter — in the pages of the journal Dialogues in Human Geography. Some of the reviews are quite critical.
Opinion | Defending Academic Freedom Means Defending Amy Wax

Oct 29, 2024 | chronicle.com | Alex Morey

Why should a professor’s speech outside of class, on a matter totally unrelated to their area of expertise, be protected by academic freedom? Arizona State University professors Richard Amesbury and Catherine O’Donnell don’t think it should be. In a recent Chronicle Review essay, they argue that the University of Pennsylvania properly disciplined law professor Amy Wax for “unprofessional” extramural comments.
Don’t Sanction Professors For Speaking Out

Jun 21, 2024 | persuasion.community | Alex Morey

“College administrator tries to silence faculty critics” is hardly a new scenario. But the censors usually aren’t quite so upfront about it. Enter Lawrence Bobo, a professor and Dean of Social Science at Harvard, who penned an op-ed in The Harvard Crimson last weekend arguing that faculty should be sanctioned when they criticize the university or prompt “external actors” like alumni or the media to do so.
Debates have devolved into disasters — here’s how to fix them

Sep 28, 2023 | washingtonexaminer.com | Joe Cohn |Travis C. Barham |Alex Morey |Quin Hillyer

The shoutfests that pretend to be candidate debates these days have descended below embarrassing into the realm of sickening. It’s time to reestablish order and courtesy, with real enforcement. The rules should be simple and straightforward, and they should start with “no interruptions.” Period. DESANTIS SCORES CULTURE WAR WIN OVER DISNEYWithout further ado or explanation, here’s what should happen. First, all candidate microphones except that of the designated speaker should always be off.
Bringing civics back to American higher education

Sep 28, 2023 | washingtonexaminer.com | Travis C. Barham |Alex Morey |Julianna Rylko |Hans Zeiger

In the aftermath of World War II, President Harry Truman convened a presidential commission on the role of American colleges and universities. Truman wanted to explore the potential for higher education to “strengthen democracy,” he said.
Colleges are using DEI criteria to discriminate

Sep 28, 2023 | washingtonexaminer.com | Travis C. Barham |Alex Morey |Michael Poliakoff |Julianna Rylko

Imagine that you are an admissions officer at a well-known university. You sort through applications, moving the most promising ones toward the top and the weaker applications toward the bottom. Applicant A worked at a local pet shelter and organized a pre-veterinary club at school. Additionally, applicant A accumulated 20 hours of volunteer service over the summer. This applicant graduated with a 3.8 GPA and finished in the top 5% of his class.
Is uranium the new gold?

Sep 28, 2023 | washingtonexaminer.com | Travis C. Barham |Alex Morey |Julianna Rylko |James Rogan

The price of uranium on world markets is going parabolic. The rush to a global green economy is causing inflation in material prices for wind turbines. That rush is also creating political friction as communities say "no" to industrial-size solar farms. Now, the quest for a global carbon-neutral economy is creating a supply-demand imbalance for uranium. Supply is limited. Demand is soaring. Is uranium the new gold?
Supporting diversity on campus requires reining in restrictive DEI programs

Sep 28, 2023 | washingtonexaminer.com | Alex Morey |Julianna Rylko |Michael Poliakoff |Joe Cohn

Higher education is the key to upward mobility. Fostering a welcoming, discrimination-free environment in our colleges and universities helps students of all backgrounds have the chance to succeed. Academic institutions across the country have given this as their reason for investing millions of dollars in diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, programs. REPUBLICAN DEBATE: CAN GOP DEBATERS PUT PRESSURE ON TRUMP TO SHOW UP?
The startling frequency of campus revolts

Sep 28, 2023 | washingtonexaminer.com | Alex Morey |Julianna Rylko |Michael Poliakoff |Peter Laffin

In October 2018, Sarah Lawrence College professor Samuel Abrams penned an op-ed in the New York Times that detailed the growing ideological homogeneity of university administrators. It was a scholarly piece, muted in tone and data-heavy. It covered topics of concern, administrative bloat and ideological conformity on campus, that were well within the mainstream of public thought at the time, particularly regarding the swelling cost of tuition and the waning value of a college degree.
Has tenure outlived its usefulness?

Sep 28, 2023 | washingtonexaminer.com | Travis C. Barham |Alex Morey |Julianna Rylko |Michael Poliakoff

It is heresy inside the academy to say such a thing, but absent some serious reforms, tenure deserves to go the way of the spinning wheel and the dodo. Properly reformed and restructured, however, it could have an important rebirth. Functioning properly, tenure protections provide the foundations for academic freedom, robust discussion, and intellectual diversity on campus.