The Academic Freedom Podcast

Max Nikias is the president emeritus of the University of Southern California. He has a new book out, American Trojan: Leadership, Resilience, and the Renewal of Higher Education. He joins the podcast to discuss the challenges currently facing American higher education and the possible paths forward.

Keith Whittington is joined by Sunil Amrith, the Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History at Yale University and a leader of the Yale chapter of the Scholars at Risk Network (SAR). SAR is an international network of institutions and individuals whose mission is to protect scholars and promote academic freedom, in part by arranging temporary academic positions for individuals facing grave threats at their home institutions and countries. Professor Amrith discusses the program, its history, its recent Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, and the challenges facing academic freedom across the globe.

Keith Whittington is joined by Greg Greubel, a senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and one of the lead attorneys who argued the case against Florida’s Stop W.O.K.E. Act restrictions of faculty speech in public university classrooms. The 11th Circuit just handed down an opinion in that case, Pernell v. Florida Board of Governors. It is one of the most consequential academic freedom cases of recent years. They discuss the case, the constitutional doctrine relating to academic freedom, and the implications of the opinion for the future.

Keith Whittington is joined by Brian Soucek, the Martin Luther King J. Professor of Law at the University of California at Davis School of Law and a member of the American Association of University Professors’ Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure. They discuss his recent book, The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education. They discuss diversity initiatives at American universities, institutional speech by academic departments and universities, and their relation to academic freedom and the mission of the university.

Keith Whittington is joined by Genevieve Lakier, professor of law and Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar at the University of Chicago. They discuss the Trump Administration's approach to higher education reform, particularly its recent Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, a proposal that would grant access to federal funds in exchange for agreeing to certain demands. Lakier recently wrote a blog post on the Compact as it relates to the unconstitutional conditions doctrine. Whittington also published a recent op-ed in The Dispatch on problems with the Compact and signed a joint statement on the matter with other professors.

Featuring Brian Galle, the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Tax Policy at Georgetown University Law Center, an expert on taxation and nonprofits. Galle recently served as a senior fellow in the division of corporation finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He joins us to talk about the proposed tax on university endowments now making its way through Congress. The Republican House Ways & Means Committee issued a press release proclaiming that their bill “holds woke, elite universities that operate like major corporations . . . accountable.” What is the endowment tax and what is its significance for the future of higher education? - 6/11/25

Keith Whittington is joined by Eugene Volokh, the Thomas M. Siebel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is the author, among other works, of the textbook, The First Amendment and Related Statutes. On May 22, the Department of Homeland Security announced that Harvard University has lost its certification to participate in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. As a consequence, international students enrolled at Harvard University will no longer be given student visas. Volokh and Whittington discuss what the administration has done and what constitutional questions it raises. - 5/29/25

Keith Whittington interviews Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, whose scholarly interests include free speech, constitutional law, and administrative law. He recently authored a paper, “Our Money or Your Life!’ Higher Education and the First Amendment,” available here, which explores the First Amendment constraints of federal funding to American universities. Sunstein helps unpack the legal and constitutional questions raised by the Trump administration's strategy of withholding federal grants from schools like Columbia and Harvard to force internal policy reforms. - 5/27/25

Keith Whittington sits down with Daniel Hemel, professor of law at New York University Law School, with an expertise in taxation, nonprofit organizations, and constitutional law. They discuss the Trump administration’s threat to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status and the implications of the tax code for the workings of American universities. - 5/21/25

Keith Whittington is joined by David Cole, the Honorable George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law Center. He is also the former National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. This episode focuses on the recent “Statement from Constitutional Law Scholars on Columbia,” of which Professor Cole was a lead author. That statement was published on the website of the New York Review of Books, and was signed by an ideologically diverse group of 18 scholars ranging from Steven Calabresi and Eugene Volokh to Erwin Chemerinsky and Pam Karlan. Keith Whittington also signed the statement. - 3/26/25