WTH is Happening With Campus Protests This Fall? FIRE’s Greg Lukianoff on the Threats to Free Speech

Free speech is under attack on America’s college campuses. 2023
was already set to be the worst year for de-platforming –
speakers being canceled or shut down because of their views –
even before October 7 unleashed waves of antisemitic protests
that worked to silence anyone attempting to support the Jewish
state. Absent serious reform that protects all voices in our
academic institutions, this school year will blow last year out
of the water. What can schools do to protect free speech on
campus? How are students taking matters into their own hands by
rejecting self-censorship? And what are the best and worst
schools for freedom of speech?


Greg Lukianoff is an attorney, New York Times best-selling
author, and the President and CEO of the Foundation for
Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He is a regular author
on free speech issues and was executive producer of the
documentaries Can We Take a Joke? (2015) and Mighty Ira: A Civil
Liberties Story (2020). Lukianoff earned his undergraduate degree
from American University and his law degree from Stanford.


Read the transcript here.


Read FIRE’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings here.