E299 - FIRE on Campus Leadership and the Defense of Open Inquiry
Published: February 17, 2026
Duration: 37:50
Free speech on campus is not an abstract constitutional issue—it's a governance challenge for presidents and boards.
In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Dr. Sean Stevens, Chief Research Advisor at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), to examine the current state of campus free speech and what institutional leaders must do to protect open inquiry under increasing political and social pressure.
Drawing on FIRE's national research and campus speech databases, Stevens outlines the sharp rise in government-involved attempts to sanction speech, the growing pre...