In this essay, I explore the relationship between the politics of the production of knowledge and partisan attempts to interfere with it. I argue that, despite changing historical contexts, the line between this politics (understood as contests about meaning and power) and partisanship has never been secured. That is because there is a tension inherent in knowledge production that cannot be resolved by legislation, administrative fiat, or academic punditry. Academic freedom mediates the tension but does not resolve it because knowledge production is inherently critical of prevailing norms (whether in the sciences, social sciences, or humanities)—norms whose partisans seek to defend their integrity and their truth. The tension between politics and partisanship is the state (or the fate) of democratic higher education in America.

Section 230, the twenty-six words that created the internet, has become the twenty-six words that are breaking the First Amendment. Section 230’s blanket liability shield for social media platforms is harming our children and our democracy. In this essay, I narrate the story of what Section 230 enabled—the rise of the virtual public square, a circumstance that the framers could never have imagined—and explore its consequences for human well-being and freedom of expression. I conclude that Section 230 must be repealed to unleash First Amendment jurisprudence to confront the threats to the republic in the age of generative AI, as well as to usher in the next round of internet innovation in service of constitutional democratic sustainability. Bipartisan legislation has been introduced to sunset Section 230 as of December 31, 2025. Those who believe in the enduring promise of American constitutional democracy should support its passage.

Michael C. J. Putnam’s explication of a famous passage by Catullus displays traditional philological rigor, while also being informed by contemporary literary approaches, such as intertextuality, feminism, and genre studies. In this way, Putnam’s analysis is representative of the widening and cross-disciplinary methodological approaches of classicists.