Who we are
We are a coalition of groups that has come together to protect the free exchange of speech and ideas on campus.

Why we care
Because the free exchange of ideas on a college or university campus is central to the learning process. Today, this freedom is being threatened by ideological agendas, like the so-called "Academic Bill of Rights" and "intellectual diversity" initiatives.

Our Mission
Free Exchange on Campus is committed to advocating for the rights of students and faculty to hear and express a full range of ideas unencumbered by political or ideological interference.

Read our full Statement of Principles.

The Free Exchange coalition is supported by coalition member contributions and a grant from the Open Society Institute. 

• American Association of University Professors
• American Civil Liberties Union
• American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations
  
• American Federation of Teachers
• American Library Association 
• Association of College & Research Libraries
• Campus Progress / Center for American Progress
• Center for Campus Free Speech
• Common Cause
• Democracy Matters
  
• Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO
  
• Free Press
• Mobilize.org
• Modern Language Association
  
• National Association of State PIRGs
• National Education Association / NEA Student Program
• National Women's Studies Association
  
• National Writers Union
  
• People for the American Way Foundation / Young People For
• Progressive States Network
  
• Roosevelt Institution
  
• United States Student Association
  
• Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press
  
  

Inquiries about Free Exchange on Campus and our positions should be directed to Craig Smith at 202-879-4559 or Megan Fitzgerald at 312-291-03962. You may also email inquiries to freeexchangepress(at)freeexchangeoncampus(dot)org.

Bloggers
Free Exchange on Campus is a group blog including bloggers from Free Exchange member organizations as well as independent faculty and student who contribute on issues related free speech, academic freedom and generally promoting the free exchange of ideas on campus. Below is a list of bloggers (handles in parentheses) with a short bio for each.

Free Exchange Bloggers

• Craig Smith (cps) - Coordinator of the Free Exchange on Campus coalition, Smith was a faculty member at Salt Lake Community College for seven years and before that taught and studied at several liberally-dominated institutions including the University of Utah, Syracuse University, and Miami University.  Smith is currently the Deputy Director of AFT Higher Education and can be reached at csmith(at)freeexchangeoncampus(dot)org.
• Megan Fitzgerald (mafitzgerald) - Megan is the Field Director for the Free Exchange on Campus coalition.  She graduated from the University of Wisconsin.  While in college, she also worked with a number of other student organizations including the Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group (WISPIRG), Campus Women's Center, and the Associated Students of Madison (ASM) to help defend student activity fees and the forum of ideas they fund on campus.  She has also worked as a citizen outreach director and lobbyist in Georgia.  Megan is currently the Program Director for the Center for Campus Free Speech can be reached at mfitzgerald(at)freeexchangeoncampus(dot)org.
• Chris Goff (cjg) - Chris is the Project Coordinator for the Free Exchange on Campus Coalition.  He was indoctrin-... erm, received degrees in political science and sociology from Eckerd College and the University of Oregon, respectively.  At the latter institution, Chris taught courses in sociology and women's and gender studies and was an activist with the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation.  He currently works as an assistant at AFT Higher Education and can be reached at cgoff(at)freeexchangeoncampus(dot)org. 

Free Exchange Contributors

• Aaron Barlow (Aaron Barlow) - Aaron Barlow, whose most recent book is The Rise of the Blogosphere, teaches at New York City College of Technology (CUNY).
  
• Barbara Fister (bfister) - Barbara Fister is an academic librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. She is a blogger for the Association of College and Research Libraries, has published widely on undergraduate research practices, publishing trends, social aspects of reading, and popular literacy, and in her spare time writes crime fiction.
• Wendy Lynne Lee (Philosleft) - Wendy is a professor of philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania where she has taught for 15 years. Her areas of expertise include philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, feminist theory, philosophy of animal consciousness and cognition, and environmental philosophy. Some of her scholarly publications include On Marx (Wadsworth, 2000), a number of essays which seek to apply the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein to contemporary issues in philosophy of language, and more recently essays at the intersection of language, animal cognition, and animal welfare. She is at present completing a volume for Broadview Press entitled "Six Critical Issues for 21st Century Feminists: Economic Disparity, Reproductive Technology, Sexual Identity and Politics, Religious Fanaticism, The Status of Nonhuman Others and the Environment, and the Future of Aesthetic Experience." She can also be found as a contributor to the on-line environmental conference site, http://www.eco-res.org. A regular contributor to the Op-Ed page of her local paper, she is committed to a social, political, and economic justice that permeates her personal, political, and philosophical life.
• Kurt Smith (Smith) - Kurt is a professor of philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He testified at the hearings on academic freedom conducted by the Pennsylvania Select Committee, and is among a handful of defenders of academic freedom who have publicly debated David Horowitz. He continues to challenge the neoconservative attack on higher education.