Free The Inquiry is Heterodox Academy’s home for essays, expert commentary, and conversations about open inquiry in the academy.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Daily |
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| Issues | 298 | Founded | 3 years ago | Last Issue | 6 days ago |
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freetheinquiry.comLatest Issues
Cass Sunstein on What's Actually Wrong With the University
What's actually wrong with the modern university?
Today on Heterodox Out Loud, renowned legal scholar and public intellectual Cass Sunstein joins John Tomasi to examine one of the most important, and contentious, questions in higher ed...
Why American Universities Are Coming Apart
Original illustration by Aki Weininger, 2026 (used with permission).
Among the strengths of America’s higher education sector has been an uncanny ability to change and remake itself in the face of social, economic, political, artist...
Grade inflation didn’t just corrupt transcripts. It corrupted curiosity
Editor’s note: Below is a preview of an opinion piece authored by Sam Abrams and John Tomasi published Friday, May 29, 2026 in the Washington Examiner. To read the full article, click here.
Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to c...
Heterodox Research Roundup, May 2026
Welcome to this month’s installment of the Heterodox Research Roundup, in which we serve our readers a roundup of research-style hors d’oeuvres that have made their way across the HxA Research Desk over the last month.
Survey fin...
Campus Free Speech Has Become Political Theater. So Has the Outrage About It.
Photomontage by Janelle Delia, 2026 (used with permission).
Oversized inflatable beach balls get bounced out on college campuses by student organizations that invite everyone to write on the “speech ball.” Students scrawl political...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Free The Inquiry, by Heterodox Academy, is devoted to the defense and advancement of open inquiry in higher education.
A social scientist interested in books, education, and science. Director of Communications at Heterodox Academy.
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Erin B. Shaw is a Research Associate at HxA. Her background is in education research and survey methods.
Retired sociology prof and admin of women's studies, first year seminar, and common reading programs. HxA Writing Fellow ('21-22). Co-chair of Univ of Wyoming's initiative on Free Expression ('23). Now Director of Member & Campus Engagement at HxA.
Michael Regnier is Heterodox Academy's Executive Director. A former charter school founder and K-12 education advocate, he's a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Chicago.
John Tomasi, the President of Heterodox Academy, is a political philosopher who earned his graduate degrees at Oxford University. A long-time professor at Brown, he has also held teaching and research positions at Princeton, Stanford, and Harvard.
Scientist. Researcher. Social Psychologist. Writer. Podcaster. Heterodox.
Shiri Spitz Siddiqi is a Senior Researcher at Heterodox Academy. She is a social psychologist with expertise on political bias, affective polarization, and moral judgment.
Justin McBrayer is an academic philosopher and the Director of University Partnerships at Heterodox Academy.
Phong P. Truong is a Resource Developer at Heterodox Academy.
University Partnerships Manager at Heterodox Academy
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