May 5, 12 PM EDT - Online
Threats to Free Speech and Academic Freedom on Campus
by the American Bar Association
Higher education and First Amendment rights are under attack from the Trump administration and interest groups that support its agenda. Even under the previous administration last spring, several university presidents lost their jobs for giving overly legalistic answers to Congresswoman Stefanik’s politically charged questions about academic policies and antisemitism.
Tenured faculty are being fired as the federal government presses university administrators to crack down on those who criticize Israel’s military actions and treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Students are being expelled and others disciplined for participating in demonstrations or writing op-eds in their college newspapers critical of Israel or supportive of DEI programs. Foreign students and faculty are having their visas revoked and they are threatened with deportation for expressing views that the Trump administration disagrees with. The government is cutting research funding to some universities, and has threatened to terminate such funding to others, unless they ban pro-Palestinian and speakers and purge DEI programs from their curricula.
What are the limits of free speech, assembly and academic freedom on college campuses when those values are in tension with government policies?
Our panelists will discuss these issues in the context of the rule of law, political and economic pressures, and what can be done to safeguard the exercise of constitutional rights and other US law, e.g., Title VI, in academia.
Speakers:
Dima Khalidi – Founder and Director, Palestine Legal; Cooperating Counsel, Center for Constitutional Rights
David D. Cole – Hon. George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy, Georgetown Law; Former National Legal Director, ACLU
Danielle R. Holley – President and Professor of Politics, Mount Holyoke College; Former Dean, Howard University School of Law
Moderator:
Stephen J. Wermiel – Co-Chair, Free Speech and Free Press Committee, ABA Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice; Professor of Practice in Constitutional Law, University Washington College of Law
To register: Threats to Free Speech and Academic Freedom on Campus
If you are unable to attend the webinar live, you can view the program on our YouTube Channel immediately after the program American Bar Association - YouTube
Once complete, we will send an email notifying all registrants when the program webpage is finalized, including both the recording and resources from the panelists.