Previous Davis, Markert, and Nickerson Lectures on Academic Freedom

Lectures from 1991-2025

Date Lecture Title Presenter Lecture Recordings Lecture Posters
2025 Intellectual Freedom in an Authoritarian Age Ruth Ben-Ghiat Watch the 2025 lecture here View the 2025 lecture poster here
2024 Academic Freedom in a Time of Destruction: Reconsidering Extra-Mural Speech Judith Butler Watch the 2024 lecture here View the 2024 lecture poster here
2023 Academic Freedom 2024: Educational Gag Orders, State Censorship, and the Fight for Higher Education Jonathan Friedman Watch the 2023 lecture here View the 2023 lecture poster here
2022 Revisiting Du Bois and 'The Propaganda of History' Jamelle Bouie Watch the 2022 lecture here View the 2022 lecture poster here
2021 A New McCarthyism? Academic Freedom and Palestine Dima Khalidi Watch the 2021 lecture here View the 2021 lecture poster here
2020 Panel Discussion: Challenges to Academic Freedom in a Changing Landscape, at Home and Abroad Nadje S. Ali-Ali, Susan Benesch, Michael Bérubé, Melanie Tanielian Watch the 2020 lecture here
2019 Do Adjuncts Have Academic Freedom? Why Tenure Matters Hank F. Reichman Watch the 2019 lecture here
2018 Academic Freedom: New Politics, Old School Censorship and Meaningful Constitutional Review Gene Nicol Watch the 2018 lecture here
2017 The Madhouse Effect: Climate Change Denial in the Age of Trump Michael Mann Watch the 2017 lecture here
2016 The Misunderstood Right to be Forgotten: The Future of Free Expression and Privacy in the Online World Marc Rotenberg Watch the 2016 lecture here
2015 Fragility of Our Freedoms: Experiencing Exclusion: Scholarship in the Wake of Inquisition (Natalie Zemon Davis) & Civility and Academic Freedom (Joan Wallach Scott) Natalie Zemon Davis, Joan Wallach Scott Watch the 2015 lecture here
2014 Religious Liberty and the Culture Wars Douglas Laycock No recording available
2013 Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom and the Anti-Communist Purge Marjorie Heins Watch 2013 lecture here
2012 The Constitutional Meaning of Academic Freedom Robert C. Post Watch 2012 lecture here
2011 The Lost Soul of Higher Education Ellen W. Schrecker Watch 2011 lecture here
2010 God, Grades, and Sex: The Developing Law of the College Classroom Michael A. Olivas Watch 2010 lecture here
2009 Galileo's Ghost: Seventeenth-Century Censorship in Twenty-First-Century America Philip Hamburger Watch the 2009 lecture here
2008 My University.com, My Government.com: Is the Internet Really a Blessing for Democracy? Cass. R. Sunstein Watch the 2008 lecture here
2007 Defending Freedom: Even for the Thoughts We Hate! Nadine Strossen Watch the 2007 lecture here
2006 Editors in Chains: Secrets, Security and the Press Bill Keller Watch the 2006 lecture here
2005 Whose Academic Freeom? Floyd Abrams Watch the 2005 lecture here
2004 Illegal but Legitimate: A Dubious Doctrine for the Times Noam Chomsky Watch the 2004 lecture here
2003 Freedom and Terror: September 11th and the 21st Century Challenge David. D. Cole Watch the 2003 lecture here
2002 From Powerlessness to Power: The Uses of Academic Freedom Catharine A. MacKinnon Watch the 2002 lecture here
2001 Universities in the 21st Century: Perils, Challenges, and Prospects Vartan Gregorian Watch the 2001 lecture here
2000 Freedom: The Seamless Web Anthony Lewis No recording available
1999 Universities and Cosmopolitanism David A. Hollinger No recording available
1998 Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society Eugene L. Roberts Jr. No recording available
1997 Opportunity and Academic Integrity Roger Wood Wilkins No recording available
1996 Academic Freedom: A Trial Judge's View Avern Cohn No recording available
1995 Academic Freedom and the Merits of Uncertainty Lindsay Ray Pratt No recording available
1994 A Walk Along the New Frontiers of Academic Freedom Walter P. Metzger No recording available
1993 Dirty Minds, Dirty Bodies, Clean Speech Catharine R. Stimpson No recording available
1992 The Open-Minded Soldier and the University Lee C. Bollinger No recording available
1991 Inaugural Lecture Robert M. O'Neil No recording available