Threats to Free Speech and Academic Freedom on Campus

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

If you are unable to attend the webinar live, you can view the program on our YouTube Channel immediately after the program. 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.

The content of this program does not meet the requirements for continuing legal education (CLE) accreditation. You will not receive CLE credit for participating.