Weekly Writers Round-Up: Free Speech, Urban Planning, and Pensions

Each week, we’ll be featuring the work of the alumni and current participants of AF’s Writing Fellows Program. A few highlights from the past week are below. For more information on the program, see here. Applications for the fall session are now open!

Mandatory Gender-Neutral Pronoun Rules Are a Threat to Campus Free Speech by Brad Polumbo (Summer 2018) in National Review
College students used to get expelled for underage drinking, failing classes, or out-of-control frat parties. Now, using the wrong pronoun might just get you kicked off campus.

A recent “gender identity” policy proposal at the University of Minnesota could compel students and faculty to use the pronouns that their gender-nonconforming peers prefer. Students and staff could risk punishment or even firing and expulsion for refusing to use pronouns such as “ze” and “they”…

Learning to Love a Humble Neighborhood by Nolan Gray (Fall 2015) in Strong Towns
A couple of years ago, my sister and I were driving along Richmond Road, a “stroad” that connects our childhood home to downtown Lexington, Kentucky. Over the winter I was studying for the GRE in anticipation of applying to planning school, but like all good applicants, I was already overconfident in my analytical abilities. As we drove, I mocked the ugliness of the urban design, the hostility to non-drivers, the financial unsustainability of the infrastructure—you know the drill, dear readers of Strong Towns…

Governments Issuing Pension Obligation Bonds Risk Worsening, Not Improving, Their Financial Shape by Anil Niraula (Spring 2017) in Reason
Concerned over rising pension contributions, policymakers in Chicago are contemplating borrowing millions in the form of pension obligation bonds (POBs). However, city leaders may ultimately reject the idea as many other state and local governments with underfunded public pensions have found POBs bring long-term risks that can in fact worsen—not improve—a government’s fiscal health over time…