Topic: free speech
![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Nighttime_Gaza_Israel_Protest_Franklin_Statue_Penn_Ethan_Young-791x400.jpeg)
A Concerned Citizen Responds on Campus Protests
Citizen Co-founder Larry Platt’s column last week on the Penn protests sparked a lot of reaction. Here, one reader’s email in response, and their subsequent civil back and forth
By A Concerned Citizen and Larry Platt![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MichaelSmerconish_WikipediaCommons-791x400.jpg)
Guest Commentary: Michael Smerconish on His Commencement Cancellation
Protesters pressured Dickinson College to cancel the local Sirius and CNN talk show host’s commencement address to graduates. Here, he responds
By Michael Smerconish![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/UPenn-Gaza-Solidarity-Encampment-791x400.jpg)
Free Speech … or Pro-Terrorist?
Professors and local pols like progressive Councilmembers Gauthier, Brooks and O’Rourke say they want to support Penn students’ rights to peaceful protest. But does their support of Gaza encampments turn a moral blind eye?
By Larry Platt![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024_Columbia_pro-Palestine_protest_16-791x400.jpeg)
Everyone Has Much to Learn about Israel and Gaza
During Passover week a longtime university president reflects on antisemitism and threats to free speech on campus
By Elaine Maimon![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/University-City-Boom-Development-For-Good-Philadelphia-30-791x400.jpg)
The War in University City
While student protestors and bullying Trustees at Penn continue shedding far more heat than light, there’s a different story at neighbor Drexel. Why?
By Larry Platt![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Liz_Magill_Testify_by_Anna_Vazhaeparambil_for_DP-791x400.jpg)
Where is the Moral Clarity?
Neither Penn’s president nor her Congressional interrogators demonstrated the fundamental principle in House hearings about antisemitism on campus, a longtime university president laments
By Elaine Maimon![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/PennTheo-1-791x400.jpg)
Choosing College In Fraught Times
As high school seniors approach college decision time, a longtime university president offers guidelines for picking schools that value respect, freedom and choice
By Elaine Maimon![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FreeSpeech-791x400.jpeg)
Listen: Free Speech Matters. Still.
This Constitution Day, a long-time university president invites Philadelphians to explore the Bill of Rights, starting with the oft-battered, but still standing First Amendment
By Elaine Maimon