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Issak v. University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee-Knoxville and its Institutional Review Board are preventing cultural anthropology Ph.D. student Idil Issak from conducting research for her dissertation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The University requires social science Ph.D. candidates to obtain approval from the Institutional Review Board before conducting oral or written interviews for their dissertations. The University’s Doctoral Committee has already approved Ms. Issak’s dissertation proposal. She now hopes to interview women doing domestic work in the UAE’s Sharjah and Ajman emirates about human rights abuses they suffer. Yet for more than a year, the Defendants have prevented Ms. Issak from beginning her doctoral research. 

The University and the Defendants it employs unlawfully restrain the speech of Ms. Issak and other Ph.D. social science candidates with approved dissertation proposals by requiring them to win IRB permission for proposed research and prove it is “culturally appropriate” in the foreign country where it occurs. The latter requirement unconstitutionally regulates speech based on its viewpoint. These restrictions are not narrowly tailored to any lawful government goal because they inevitably chill, delay, and otherwise burden First Amendment-protected speech that could not be lawfully penalized after it occurs.

Kaitlyn Schiraldi
Staff Attorney
Margot Cleveland
Of Counsel
Philip Hamburger
Chief Executive Officer
NCLA FILINGS

Complaint

June 2, 2025 | Read More

PRESS RELEASES

NCLA Sues University of Tennessee for Stifling Social Science Ph.D. Candidate’s Free Speech

June 2, 2025 | Read More

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