The Weekly Standard | Sykes: Why Are Businesses Intervening in a Wisconsin Academic Freedom Case?

Charlie Sykes writes at The Weekly Standard:

The Trump era, if nothing else, has shown that ideological alignments can be fluid and inconsistent. So fiscal conservatives can find themselves backing massive deficits, while evangelicals hand out mulligans for presidential payoffs to porn stars. But even by those fluctuating standards, the decision by some business groups to align themselves with academia’s speech police is jarring.

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In a move that had perplexed free speech advocates on and off campus, the National Association of Manufacturer (NAM) and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) have both filed amicus briefs siding with Marquette, arguing that private employers “should remain free to discipline an employee for conduct or speech that disrupts or adversely affects the particular purpose of the enterprise.”

The business groups’ decision to intervene against McAdams was both unexpected and worrisome, especially since Wisconsin’s high court has a track record of deference to the opinions of the business community.

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