Two separate episodes are testing academic norms and institutional governance: a tenure lawsuit at Harvard Business School and a wave of faculty sanctions tied to comments after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Benjamin Edelman has sued Harvard after being denied tenure; deposition testimony from then‑Dean Nitin Nohria confirms Edelman met Harvard’s intellectual and teaching standards but failed on the opaque "community standards" criterion. The case raises questions about how elite institutions define conduct and will be decided on motions for summary judgment. Separately, at least 26 faculty members faced disciplinary actions for online comments relating to the Kirk episode; a number of those faculty have sued their institutions, drawing objections from civil‑liberties groups. PEN America warned that colleges are increasingly yielding to external pressure, placing tenure protections and free‑speech norms under strain.