Podcasts by So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

Ep. 113 Charlottesville reflections with Rodney Smolla from 2020-06-04T04:10

During the summer of 2017, a fierce dispute over the removal of Confederate monuments in Charlottesville, Va. captured national attention. 

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Ep. 112 College social media censorship from 2020-05-21T04:10

A new FIRE report finds that 77% of public colleges and universities use a blacklist of secret words to censor comments on their Facebook pages. What’s more, 87% ...

Ep. 111 'Dear Colleague,' due process now required. Title IX rules analysis. from 2020-05-08T18:43:35

On Wednesday, the Department of Education Listen

Ep. 110 The Constitution in the age of coronavirus w/ Prof. Josh Blackman from 2020-04-28T04:10

With much of the country under stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19, what do these orders mean for the five freedoms of the First Amendment?

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Ep. 109 Censorship pandemic from 2020-04-16T04:10

For authoritarian leaders across the globe, the coronavirus emergency presents an opportunity to silence critics and consolidate power.

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Ep. 108 A history of (dis)information wars in the Soviet Union and beyond from 2020-04-02T04:10

How and why do authoritarian regimes seek to control information? On today’s episode of Listen

Ep. 107.1 "Coronavirus and the failure of the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’" from 2020-03-20T20:14:52

"Coronavirus and the failure of the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’"
by Foundation for Individual Rights in Education President & CEO Greg Lukianoff, as read by Susan Kruth.

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Ep. 107 FIRE, the coronavirus, and the failure of the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ from 2020-03-20T17:40:15

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast<...

Ep. 106 ‘Free speech and justified true belief’ w/ prof. Joseph Blocher from 2020-03-19T04:10

Why is it important that we protect freedom of speech?

On today’s episode of Listen

Ep. 105 ‘Rap on Trial’ from 2020-03-05T05:10

At a time when artistic expression has never enjoyed greater First Amendment protection, rap music has seemingly been left behind. Rap lyrics are routinely used a...

Ep. 104 Violent video games with Villanova Professor Patrick M. Markey from 2020-02-20T05:10

Do violent video games make people more violent?

Amid Listen

Ep. 103 Guns, addiction, and the press from 2020-02-06T14:58:10

Is carrying a weapon during a political demonstration protected by the First Amendment?

What about intentionally cre...

Ep. 102 Cultural sites, slurs, antisemitism, and Title IX from 2020-01-22T15:35:05

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast<...

Ep. 101 McCarthyism and The Red Scare from 2020-01-02T14:47:35

“Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

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The 100th episode: The state of free speech in America from 2019-12-12T05:10

On today’s edition of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast<...

Ep. 99 John Stuart Mill’s ‘On Liberty’ from 2019-11-26T05:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast<...

Ep. 98 ‘The First Amendment in the Trump Era’ w/ Professor Timothy Zick from 2019-11-14T05:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast<...

Ep. 97 There’s no such thing as free speech, argues Stanley Fish from 2019-10-31T04:10

Does free speech exist? 

According to Cardozo Law Professor Stanley Fish, it does not.

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Ep. 96 Who was Hayden C. Covington? from 2019-10-17T04:10

He brought 45 First Amendment cases to the United States Supreme Court between 1939 and 1955. His success rate before the court was second only to future Supreme ...

Ep. 95 Twenty years of FIRE with co-founder Harvey Silverglate from 2019-10-03T04:10

In 1999, criminal defense attorney Harvey Silverglate Listen

Ep. 94 Kevin Williamson’s ‘The Smallest Minority’ from 2019-09-16T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 93 ‘Coddling’ one year later from 2019-09-05T04:10

One year ago this week, Listen

Ep. 92 Free speech, privacy, and President Trump’s Twitter account w/ Alex Abdo from 2019-08-22T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 91 ‘The Grievance Studies Affair’ from 2019-08-08T04:10

Last fall, three writers and scholars announced they had submitted 20 fake papers to academic journals to test whether  — as they suspected — certain fields of st...

Ep. 90 ‘David French-ism’ from 2019-07-24T15:28

National Review senior writer and former FIRE President David French has become an “-ism.” 

On today’s episode of Listen

Ep. 89 Prof. Samuel Abrams wrote an op-ed encouraging viewpoint diversity. Then came the fallout. from 2019-07-11T04:10

His office door was vandalized. He was accused of causing “harm” to his “college community.” There was even Listen

Ep. 88 Defending libraries with James LaRue from 2019-06-27T04:10

Community libraries have always been a target for would-be censors — and the past few months are no exception.

On to...

Ep. 87 Intellectual property 101 from 2019-06-13T10:56:37

The Constitution grants Congress the power “[t]o promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclu...

Ep. 86 Words, Violence, and Censorship at Williams College from 2019-05-30T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak...

Ep. 85 Wen Fa of the Pacific Legal Foundation from 2019-05-16T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 84 The fight to publish Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ from 2019-05-02T04:10

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.”

So begins Alle...

Ep. 83 Mustafa Akyol on jailing journalists in Turkey, ‘re-educating’ Uyghurs in China, and cultural conformity in America from 2019-04-18T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak...

Ep. 82 ‘Can free speech be progressive?’ from 2019-04-04T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak...

Ep. 81 Techdirt’s Mike Masnick from 2019-03-21T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 80 Ten Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2019 from 2019-03-07T05:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 79 Former FEC Chairman Bradley Smith from 2019-02-21T05:10

Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley A. Smith Listen

Ep. 78 LGBT equality and the First Amendment from 2019-02-07T05:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 77 Campus speech roundup: Art censorship, porn filters, speech restrictions abroad, and litigation victories from 2019-01-24T05:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 76 From black armbands to the U.S. Supreme Court from 2019-01-10T05:10

Her journey started with wearing a black armband to school and proceeded to the landmark United States Listen

Ep. 75 Against ‘Free Speech’ with Anthony Leaker from 2018-12-27T05:15

Against ‘Free Speech’ with Anthony Leaker

What does it mean to be “against ‘free speech?’”

O...

Ep. 74 ‘The Half-Life of Facts’ with Samuel Arbesman from 2018-12-13T05:10

Has every fact we’ve ever known undergone revision or reversal?

It’s a provocative and consequential idea, and one t...

Ep. 73 ‘Uncensored’ with Zachary Wood from 2018-11-29T05:10

Zachary Wood has become comfortable with uncomfortable conversations. He’s engaged in them his entire life — with his mom who suffers from schizoaffective disorde...

Ep. 72 ‘Bodied’ with director Joseph Kahn from 2018-11-13T05:05

“Words are weapons in the world’s most lyrical sport.”

That’s how competitive battle rap is described by the makers ...

Ep. 71 Thinking about free speech in bets with Annie Duke from 2018-11-01T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 70 Free speech in the digital age with Jameel Jaffer from 2018-10-18T04:10

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 69 Former Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. from 2018-10-04T10:46:32

On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast Listen

Ep. 68 'True threats' with David L. Hudson Jr. from 2018-09-20T13:23:15

There are Listen

Ep. 67 ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’ from 2018-09-04T13:26:45

Tribalism and group polarization are on the rise. So too are rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide. On campuses, professors and students are afraid to speak o...

Ep. 66 Outrage mobs in comedy from 2018-08-23T14:42:37

Much has been written in recent months about online campaigns to get certain Listen

Ep. 65 Artificial intelligence&speech rights from 2018-08-09T16:43:08

How should we think about speech rights in the age of artificial intelligence and advanced robotics?

On today’s epis...

Ep. 64 How censorship crosses borders with Jacob Mchangama from 2018-07-25T20:32:34

On this episode of So to Speak, w...

Ep. 63 Supreme Court review: Kennedy, Kavanaugh, and “weaponizing the First Amendment” from 2018-07-11T17:54:04

Supreme Court review: Kennedy, Kavanaugh, and “weaponizing the First Amendment”

On this episode of Listen

Ep. 62 Most memorable FIRE cases from 2018-06-27T19:00

On today’s episode of So to Speak...

Ep. 61 ‘HATE’ with Nadine Strossen from 2018-06-13T22:00

The United States is unique in its protection of what some might label “hate speech.” Of course, certain expression is unprotected, like incitement to imminent la...

Ep. 60 ‘Speak Freely’ with Professor Keith Whittington from 2018-05-30T20:56:14

In February, Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber Listen

Ep. 59 Debating ‘Is there a campus free speech crisis?’ with Sullivan, Haidt, Nossel, Sachs,&Foster from 2018-05-16T15:36:31

Is there a campus free speech crisis?

In March, Listen

Ep. 58 ‘Lust on Trial’ with Amy Werbel from 2018-05-03T04:10

Anthony Comstock is a name that has become synonymous with censorship in America.

In 1873, he founded the New York S...

Ep. 57 Exploring threats to a free press with Laura Handman from 2018-04-19T04:15

What are the greatest threats to a free press in America, and how have they changed in recent years?

On this episode...

Ep. 56 Have you been defamed? from 2018-04-05T04:10

In January, President Donald Trump Listen

Ep. 55 Is there a campus free speech crisis? from 2018-03-27T15:33:11

Is there a campus free speech crisis? On this episode of So to Speak<...

Ep. 54 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission from 2018-03-22T04:10

In 2012, a same-sex couple entered Masterpiece Cakeshop and asked its owner, Jack Phillips, to create a cake for their wedding reception in Denver, Colorado. Phil...

Ep. 53 Bret Weinstein, professor in exile from 2018-03-08T05:15

Former Evergreen State College Professor Bret Weinstein describes himself as a “professor in exile.” The evolutionary biologist left Evergreen last September in the fallout from the controversy ...

Ep. 52 The Great Firewall of China from 2018-02-22T21:11:41

Most Americans are familiar with The Great Wall of China. Fewer are familiar with the Great Firewall Listen

Ep. 51 University of Alaska President Emeritus Mark Hamilton from 2018-02-08T05:10

In 2001, University of Alaska president Mark Hamilton made national headlines when he wrote Listen

Ep. 50 Randall Kennedy on ‘The Forgotten Origins of the Constitution on Campus’ from 2018-01-25T05:10

Has the history of how our constitutional rights came to be protected on campus been forgotten?

Professor Randall L. Kennedy believes it has. It’s a history even he wasn’t familiar...

Ep. 49 “The Great Dissent” w/ Professor Thomas Healy from 2018-01-11T05:30

Was our modern First Amendment born out of a chance encounter on a train bound for Boston in 1918?

On this episode o...

Ep. 48 ‘Natural Rights and the First Amendment’ w/ Jud Campbell from 2017-12-28T02:36:22

Did the founders intend for the First Amendment to protect as much speech as it does today?

University of Richmond A...

Ep. 47 Institute for Justice President and General Counsel Scott Bullock from 2017-12-13T21:52:39

The Institute for Justice doesn’t litigate your typica...

Ep. 46 Revisiting Masses v. Patten (1917) from 2017-11-30T00:10:38

Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten (1917) might be the most important free speech case you’ve never heard of.

In his now largely forgotten decision in the case, then Southern District...

Ep. 45 Harvard professor Steven Pinker from 2017-11-15T22:03:02

Harvard University professor and FIRE Advisory Council member Steven Pinker is a rockstar academic. He has written 10 books, many of which are bestsellers, includ...

Ep. 44 Berkeley then and now from 2017-11-02T21:03:30

Nowhere have the campus free speech debates been as intense as at the University of California, Berkeley — the home of the Free Speech Movement.

Violent protests against one speaker. Hund...

Ep. 43 LIVE EVENT: Viewpoint diversity on campus from 2017-10-19T04:36:30

Is the modern college campus suffering from a decline in viewpoint diversity? Do American universities prepare students for life in a politically divided democracy, or might they be teaching hab...

Ep. 42 ‘Is this the day the Internet dies?’ from 2017-10-05T20:25:48

The experts are calling it the free speech debate of the next decade: Who makes the rules for what people can say — and see — on the web? And who pays the price when “The Delete Squad” gets it w...

Ep. 41 The British free speech invasion from 2017-09-21T00:07:42

The British free speech invasion is here. Our friends from the current affairs magazine spiked have traveled across the pond to host “Unsafe Space,” an all-star free speech tour of American coll...

Ep. 40 “The neurodiversity case for free speech” w/ Geoffrey Miller from 2017-09-07T01:03:34

Would Isaac Newton succeed on the modern college campus? The genius who discovered the laws of motion, but who also obsessed over alchemy, was introverted and prone to unpredictable mood swings....

Ep. 39 Judge Richard Posner on the First Amendment from 2017-09-05T20:26:55

Last week, Judge Richard Posner suddenly retired from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after nearly 36 years on the bench. The 1981 President Reagan appointee authored over 3,300 judicial o...

Ep. 38 “After Charlottesville” w/ former ACLU President Nadine Strossen from 2017-08-22T05:45:21

Nadine Strossen knows the dangers of Nazism. Her father was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp one day before he was scheduled to be sterilized. If American soldiers arrived a day ...

Ep. 37 Fredrik deBoer on the growing distrust of higher ed from 2017-08-10T02:19:51

Fredrik deBoer has been in and around academia his entire life. He’s a fourth generation Ph.D. who has blogged about education issues since 2008. Writing from a socialist perspective, he regular...

Ep. 36 The life of Louis Brandeis w/ Jeffrey Rosen from 2017-07-27T01:49:45

During the summer of 1919, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis changed his mind about free speech.

Earlier that year, he voted to uphold the conviction of Charles Schenck for opposi...

Ep. 35 Et tu, hecklers? Howard Sherman on defending the arts from 2017-07-13T01:30:03

In Shakespeare’s 1599 play “Julius Caesar,” the title character is warned by a soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March.” After protesters attempted to shut down a modernized production of the pl...

Ep. 34 The 100th anniversary of the Espionage Act of 1917 from 2017-06-29T01:35:44

It was 100 years ago this month that the Espionage Act of 1917 was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, making it a crime to interfere with the operations of the United States military.<...

Ep. 33 The Slants win at the U.S. Supreme Court! from 2017-06-20T20:22:15

Simon Tam likes to quote Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous line — paraphrased from transcendentalist Theodore Parker’s earlier statement — that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends...

Ep. 32 Tyler Cowen on the complacent campus from 2017-06-15T02:26:41

George Mason University Professor Tyler Cowen has spent the better part of the last 40 years on college campuses. That’s why when he wrote in his new book “The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeati...

Ep. 31 Campus free speech round table: spring 2017 semester in review from 2017-06-01T15:26:12

FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff once declared 2014 the year of the heckler. But after high profile examples of mob censorship at the University of California, Berkeley, Middlebury College,...

Ep. 30 Eugene Volokh and new frontiers in the First Amendment from 2017-05-18T02:04:23

Where are the new frontiers in First Amendment law? Where do scholars and the courts see the potential for expanding First Amendment protections in the future? What technological developments po...

Ep. 29 Former ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser from 2017-05-04T02:26:52

Ira Glasser is one of the most consequential civil liberties figures in American history.

He ran the ACLU as its executive director from 1978 until his retirement in 2001. In the process,...

Ep. 28 ‘Sex and the Constitution’ with professor Geoffrey R. Stone from 2017-04-20T03:08:57

Sex and the Constitution are not two topics often thought of together.

But University of Chicago Law School professor Geoffrey R. Stone seeks to change that with the publication of “Sex a...

Ep. 27 The ‘heckler’s veto’ strikes Heather Mac Donald from 2017-04-17T20:52:53

On April 6, Manhattan Institute Fellow Heather Mac Donald was standing in Claremont McKenna College’s Athenaeum preparing to give a lecture to an empty room.

An empty room was not what Ma...

Ep. 26 Putting money where your mouth is: campaign finance and free speech from 2017-04-06T01:51:42

From Buckley v. Valeo (1976) to Citizens United v. FEC (2010), legal disputes over the constitutionality of campaign finance laws have captured the general public’s attention for decades.

Ep. 25 Bob Corn-Revere on censorship: the ‘bastard child of technology’ from 2017-03-23T09:22:51

New technologies and the censorship instinct seem to go hand-in-hand. From the first days of the printing press, to the rise of radio and the telephone, to the advent of the internet, innovation...

Ep. 24 How Daryl Davis, a black man, defeats the KKK w/ dialogue from 2017-03-09T03:24:12

Daryl Davis, a 58-year-old black man, has a question: “How can you hate me if you don’t even know me?”

For nearly three decades, Davis has been interviewing members of the Ku Klux Klan to...

Ep. 23 Rob Corry, ‘speech code slayer’ from 2017-02-23T02:48:52

In 1994, law student Rob Corry joined with eight other students to file a legal challenge to a Stanford University speech code. It was the first-ever lawsuit filed under California’s recently-en...

Ep. 22 Flemming Rose, Editor of ‘the Muhammad Cartoons’ from 2017-02-09T03:14:23

Flemming Rose didn’t set out to put himself at the center of one of the biggest free speech controversies in recent memory, but 12 years ago he found himself in just that position.

In 200...

Ep. 21 The ‘Turkey Purge’ w/ Prof. Beth Baron from 2017-01-27T14:57:24

We continue our conversation about the Turkish government’s crackdown on civil society with Middle East Studies Association (MESA) President and City University of New York Professor Beth Baron....

Ep. 20 The ‘Turkey Purge’ w/ Mahir Zeynalov from 2017-01-26T04:46:34

If you care about free expression, you should care about what’s happening in Turkey.

Since a failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt against Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish g...

Ep. 19 Ken White of ‘Popehat’ Talks Nat Hentoff, Worst Censors of 2016 from 2017-01-12T03:04:38

Ken White has made a name for himself in First Amendment circles for his particularly astute and often comical commentary on free speech issues for the popular “law, liberty, and leisure” blog ‘...

Ep. 18 Campus Free Speech Round Table: Fall 2016 Semester in Review from 2016-12-29T03:36:52

A precipitous decline in the percentage of schools maintaining severely restrictive speech codes. A proliferation of bias response teams. “Security fee” or “speech tax?” Donald Trump. Milo Yiann...

Ep. 17 ACLU National Legal Director David Cole from 2016-12-15T10:15:05

In July, the ACLU tapped Georgetown University Law Center Professor David Cole to be its new national legal director. In that role, Cole will oversee nearly 300 lawyers and a docket of about 1,4...

Ep. 16 Free Speech Profiles: Attorney Martin Garbus from 2016-12-01T03:13:26

Attorney Martin Garbus’ client list is a who’s who of the world’s foremost artists, politicians, corporations, scientists, and political dissidents.

In a career spanning a half century, h...

Ep. 15 Denying the Holocaust from 2016-11-17T03:38

In 1996, Emory University Professor Deborah Lipstadt found herself in a peculiar situation: she and a team of lawyers would have to defend the truth about the Holocaust against British historian...

Ep. 14 NYU Professor Stephen Solomon’s ‘Revolutionary Dissent’ from 2016-11-03T02:33:09

The time of America’s founding was full of raucous debate and widespread dissent. Americans built effigies, wrote pamphlets, sang songs, and gathered at liberty trees to protest British rule. Listen

Ep. 13 spiked’s Brendan O’Neill on the Fight for Free Speech Overseas from 2016-10-20T10:28:43

“How do you make the case for freedom of speech these days?,” asks Brendan O’Neill in the latest episode of “So to Speak.”

The question is a serious one for O’Neill. As the editor of the ...

Ep. 12 Flying Dog Brewery: ‘Good Beer, No Censorship’ from 2016-10-06T03:21:40

“Two inflammatory words … one wild drink. Nectar imprisoned in a bottle. Let it out. It is cruel to keep a wild animal locked up.”

When artist and illustrator Ralph Steadman wrote those w...

Ep. 11 Robert Shibley’s ‘Twisting Title IX’ from 2016-09-22T03:00:53

“Unfortunately, Title IX has really become unmoored from its original intention,” says Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) Executive Director Robert Shibley.

Title IX is ...

Ep. 10 Jason Riley on Being ‘Disinvited’ from Campus from 2016-09-08T11:55:07

Earlier this year, Jason Riley was “disinvited” from speaking at Virginia Tech due to concerns that his writings on race would spark campus protests.

The Wall Street Journal columnist, Fo...

Ep. 9 Alice Dreger on Academic Freedom from 2016-08-25T04:12:01

Every year, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education puts out a list of the 10 worst colleges for free speech. And this year, surprisingly, half of the schools on the list earned their ...

Ep. 8 ‘The Trials of Lenny Bruce’ from 2016-08-11T09:40:08

His trials began with a police bust at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco in October 1961, and ended with an obscenity conviction in New York in November 1964. Stand-up comedy legend Lenny Bruce...

Ep. 7 The Daughters: Carlin, Pryor, and Bruce Speak Out from 2016-07-28T04:06

Kelly Carlin, Rain Pryor, and Kitty Bruce are the daughters of the godfathers of comedy.

Their fathers, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Lenny Bruce, shaped the stand-up comedy you hear ...

Ep. 6 The Summer Interns Take Over from 2016-07-14T19:49:50

Nationwide polls on support for free speech are full of contradictions.

Research conducted by Gallup, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Newseum Institute earlier this ye...

Ep. 5 Aryeh Neier on “Defending My Enemy” from 2016-06-30T04:16:09

He has a glittering civil liberties résumé: co-founder of Human Rights Watch, president of the Open Society Foundations for nearly 20 years, professor of civil rights law.

But before all ...

Ep. 4 2015–16 Campus Free Speech Year in Review from 2016-06-16T03:34:49

The 2015–16 school year was a headline-grabbing year for free speech on campus. Even President Barack Obama felt compelled to weigh in on the conversation. Multiple times.

In this episode...

Ep. 3 David Baugh on ‘Defending My Enemy’ from 2016-06-02T04:20:48

Why did a black defense attorney, who fought against segregation in high school and battled racism in the courtroom, volunteer to defend the First Amendment rights of an Imperial Wizard of the K...

Ep. 2 Glenn Greenwald On “Defending My Enemy” from 2016-05-19T04:03:50

In discussions about free speech issues, you’ll often hear people say something to the effect of, “I disapprove of what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

The qu...

Ep. 1 Jonathan Rauch’s “Kindly Inquisitors” from 2016-05-05T04:04:06

In 1993, a young Jonathan Rauch published “Kindly Inquisitors: The New Attacks on Free Thought.” It was his response to what he saw as the West’s lackluster and apologetic defense of the novelis...

Welcome! from 2016-04-19T00:00

"So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast" takes an uncensored look at the world of free expression through personal stories and candid conversations. Tune in on May 5 for the first episode of "So t...