Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is a group concerned with civil liberties in academia in the United States. Its current president is David French, and its cofounders are Alan Charles Kors and Harvey A. Silverglate. Kors has been identified as a right-wing civil libertarian, and Silverglate as a left-wing civil libertarian, by the National Review http://www.nationalreview.com/kurtz/kurtz091902.asp.

Related Topics:
United States - Alan Charles Kors - Harvey A. Silverglate - National Review

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According to their website, "FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation devoted to free speech, individual liberty, religious freedom, the rights of conscience, legal equality, due process, and academic freedom on our nation's campuses." One of the Foundation's main activities has been criticism and action against campus speech codes.

Related Topics:
Academic freedom - Speech codes

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According to the group, a recent survey, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, has shown that college students and administrators are "woefully ignorant" of First Amendment rights guaranteed by the United States Bill of Rights.

Related Topics:
John Templeton Foundation - First Amendment - United States Bill of Rights

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In their first major case, they intervened on behalf of an Fundamentalist Christian group at Tufts University that was banned from campus for discriminating against a lesbian member. The group acknoledged that the member in question was allowed to remain in the group but prevented from serving on their "Leadership Council" because of her sexuality. FIRE's intervention was based on freedom of religion: they argued that students should be allowed to act upon religious beliefs that include a condemnation of homosexuality, and compared the group's actions to a hypothetical "Gay Students Association" preventing the nomination to their board of a conservative Christian.

Related Topics:
Fundamentalist Christian - Tufts University - Lesbian - Homosexuality

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More recently, FIRE supported Linda McCarriston, a poet, professor and self-described socialist at the University of Alaska, Anchorage in a complicated case that found McCarriston accused of bigotry http://www.issues-views.com/index.php?print=1&article=1029. FIRE has also joined with the ACLU in criticizing Columbia University's sexual misconduct policy http://www.equityfeminism.com/archives/years/2001/000037.html.

Related Topics:
Linda McCarriston - Poet - Professor - Socialist - University of Alaska, Anchorage - ACLU - Columbia University

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According to MediaTransparency http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=1994, FIRE has been the receipient of numerous grants from US-based conservative organizations, including the Randolph Foundation, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.

Related Topics:
MediaTransparency - Randolph Foundation - Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation - Sarah Scaife Foundation

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FIRE also maintains a blog, The Torch.

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