Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
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Use of DataInitially established in 1999 as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the organization is now known as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which was founded by Alan Charles Kors and Harvey Silverglate.
Kors and Silverglate collaborated on a book published in 1998 that criticized censorship in academic institutions. Silverglate had previously been a member of the board of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Massachusetts. Kors took on the roles of the first president and chairperson of FIRE, while Thor Halvorssen served as its inaugural executive director and later as CEO. The organization was created with a commitment to being non-ideological and nonpartisan.
FIRE has garnered significant financial support from organizations that predominantly advocate for conservative and libertarian principles, such as the Bradley Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the Charles Koch Institute. Additionally, among its contributors is the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation, and according to FIRE president Greg Lukianoff, it has also received support from the center-left Knight Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
For an extensive list of cases FIRE has been involved with click here.
Since its founding more than two decades ago, FIRE has become the nation’s leading defender of fundamental rights on college campuses through a mix of programming, including student and faculty outreach, public education campaigns, individual case advocacy, and policy reform efforts. In 2022, FIRE announced an expansion initiative into off-campus free speech advocacy and legal defense.
