User:Brenden/Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is a largely non-partisan organization that defends the rights of expression of students and faculty at American universities and colleges. It has also made forays into freedoms of religion, legal rights, and due process, the last of which has earned it controversy when it began to criticize the admittedly heavy-handed approach taken by some universities to sexual assault cases on campus.

"It's a conservative organization"

Some commentators, including those who would prefer pro-life groups be censored, and conservative students marginalized, have accused FIRE of being a conservative organization simply by defending conservatives when their right to expression is marginalized at universities. This assumption is derailed when evidence of FIRE defending the rights of liberals to express themselves on conservative-leaning campuses come to light

"It's a liberal organization"

Other commentators have criticized FIRE for defending liberals too much, thus "betraying their pinko roots". For instance, FIRE's work defending the right of students conduct a pro-palestinian campaign drew fire from conservative circles for it's rather unapologetic defense of a decidedly leftist student group. Needless to say, this is ridiculous; FIRE has made its name defending conservative movements with the same vigour as with liberal movements

On due process

FIRE has made its position on Title IX mandated college judicial boards abundantly clear - opposition. This position has earned it an enormous amount of criticism, for "setting back the conversation on sexual assault years", and a perceived defense of the rights of the rapist. While the concerns are credible, they do not concern the (poor) application of due process in untrained, unprepared college judicial boards in relation to cases of sexual assault. FIRE's primary concern with these boards is the danger that due process will be eliminated, in order to appease activists who argue "believe the victim", thus instigating a witch-hunt for persons who may not actually be guilty of any crime.

See Also

• Free Speech
• First Amendment - The authors of America's constitution considered speech to be so vitally important that they made it the primary amendment in their nascent state.