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PODCAST

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast takes an uncensored look at the world of free expression through the law, philosophy, and stories that define your right to free speech. Hosted by FIRE"s Nico Perrino. New episodes post every other Thursday.

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All Episodes

01:00:27

Ep. 60 ‘Speak Freely’ with Professor Keith Whittington

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/05/30

In February, Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber announced that he will distribute copies of “Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech” to all Princeton students and faculty as part of the university’s annual “Pre-read” program. On this episode of So to Speak, our guest is Princeton University Professor Keith Whittington, who is the author of “Speak Freely.” We discuss the latest campus free speech news at Princeton and across the county. We are also joined by FIRE

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01:49:51

Ep. 59 Debating ‘Is there a campus free speech...

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/05/16

Is there a campus free speech crisis? In March, FIRE staff discussed the question. On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we put the question to others and feature audio from a live debate that occurred on May 8 in New York City. New York magazine’s Andrew Sullivan and New York University’s Jonathan Haidt argue, yes, there is a campus free speech crisis. PEN America’s Suzanne Nossel and Acadia University’s Jeffrey Sachs argue, no, there is not. Freethink’s Kmele Foster

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01:09:33

Ep. 58 ‘Lust on Trial’ with Amy Werbel

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/05/03

Anthony Comstock is a name that has become synonymous with censorship in America. In 1873, he founded the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, and his career led to the confiscation or incineration of more than 3 million pieces of allegedly “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” material. On this episode of So to Speak, we speak with Fashion Institute of Technology Professor Amy Werbel about her new book, “Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony

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01:09:28

Ep. 57 Exploring threats to a free press with Laura...

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/04/19

What are the greatest threats to a free press in America, and how have they changed in recent years? On this episode of So to Speak, we speak with Laura R. Handman, who is a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine and a co-chair of the firm’s appellate practice. For 30 years, she has worked on free press issues ranging from defamation to reporter’s privilege. Her media clients include National Public Radio, Atlantic Media, Dow Jones, The Economist, Amazon, Bloomberg, and many more. Don’t forget! Join us on

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57:55

Ep. 56 Have you been defamed?

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/04/05

In January, President Donald Trump called America’s libel laws “a sham and a disgrace.” Are they? On this episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, we sit down with Ballard Spahr Senior Counsel Lee Levine to discuss what America’s libel “laws” really are — and are not. www.sotospeakpodcast.com Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/freespeechtalk Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/sotospeakpodcast Email us: sotospeak@thefire.orgCall in a question: 215-315-0100

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49:38

Ep. 55 Is there a campus free speech crisis?

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/03/27

Is there a campus free speech crisis? On this episode of So to Speak, Nico Perrino is joined by FIRE’s Will Creeley and Samantha Harris to discuss this simmering question. Watch the video of this podcast recording: youtu.be/uoO6TCAQpaE Additional reading: “The ‘campus free speech crisis’ is a myth. Here are the facts.” by Jeffrey Adam Sachs “Everything we think about the political correctness debate is wrong” by Matthew Yglesias “The skeptics are wrong: Attitudes about free speech on campus are

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01:31:34

Ep. 54 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights...

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/03/22

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. Phillips declined the request, reportedly telling the couple, “Sorry guys, I don’t make cakes for same-sex weddings.” That brief, 20-second exchange eventually found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it is now the subject of one of the most controversial First Amendment cases in years. The issue before the court is whether applying

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01:25:44

Ep. 53 Bret Weinstein, professor in exile

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/03/08

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 surrounding the school’s planned Day of Absence programming. Weinstein’s objection to the programming led fifty students to disrupt his class and demand his resignation. The backlash became so intense that Evergreen’s chief of police told him she could not protect him from protesters. As a result, he had to

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39:53

Ep. 52 The Great Firewall of China

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/02/22

Most Americans are familiar with The Great Wall of China. Fewer are familiar with the Great Firewall of China. The Firewall blocks vast expanses of the world’s web content — and it’s just one of the tools the Chinese government uses to monitor, censor, and even manipulate what its approximately 1.4 billion citizens see online. On this episode of So to Speak, we explore one of the most extensive and effective censorship systems ever devised by a government. How does the Chinese government do it? And

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58:17

Ep. 51 University of Alaska President Emeritus Mark...

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/02/08

In 2001, University of Alaska president Mark Hamilton made national headlines when he wrote a sternly worded memo declaring that freedom of speech on campus “CANNOT BE QUALIFIED” [emphasis original]. Hamilton retired from his position as University of Alaska president in 2010. However, his memo lives on in FIRE lore as the gold standard for a university president's response to a campus free speech controversy. On this episode of So to Speak, we talk with Hamilton about his famous memo and what he

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01:32:27

Ep. 50 Randall Kennedy on ‘The Forgotten Origins of...

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/01/25

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 with until recently. On this episode of So to Speak, Professor Kennedy explains how civil rights activists in the 1950s and 60s secured early victories for free speech, due process, and public assembly on high school and college campuses. Professor Kennedy teaches courses on contracts, criminal law, and the regulation

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01:03:02

Ep. 49 “The Great Dissent” w/ Professor Thomas Healy

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2018/01/11

Was our modern First Amendment born out of a chance encounter on a train bound for Boston in 1918? On this episode of So to Speak, we speak with Seton Hall Law Professor Thomas Healy. He argues that Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ unlikely run-in with Judge Learned Hand in the summer of 1918 set off a series of events that culminated in a new trajectory for the First Amendment in America. Professor Healy is the author of “The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind —

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01:07:18

Ep. 48 ‘Natural Rights and the First Amendment’ w/...

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2017/12/28

Did the founders intend for the First Amendment to protect as much speech as it does today? University of Richmond Assistant Professor of Law Jud Campbell argues probably not. He is the author of an article recently published in The Yale Law Journal that Cass Sunstein says “might well be the most illuminating work on the original understanding of free speech in a generation.” In “Natural Rights and the First Amendment,” professor Campbell argues that the founders’ understanding of the freedoms of

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56:28

Ep. 47 Institute for Justice President and General...

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2017/12/13

The Institute for Justice doesn’t litigate your typical First Amendment cases. They don’t take cases involving protest bans, controversial speakers, or political dissent. Instead, the libertarian, public-interest law firm takes cases often ascribed to the margins of First Amendment concerns by the public and even some judges: cases involving occupational speech, commercial speech, and campaign finance. On this episode of So to Speak, we speak with IJ President and General Counsel Scott Bullock about

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01:57:39

Ep. 46 Revisiting Masses v. Patten (1917)

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2017/11/30

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 of New York Judge Learned Hand rejected the United States postmaster general’s arguments for refusing to mail Masses magazine. The magazine was staunchly opposed to World War I and the compulsory military draft. The postmaster general argued that the recently passed Espionage Act gave him the authority to deny the

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40:47

Ep. 45 Harvard professor Steven Pinker

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2017/11/15

Harvard University professor and FIRE Advisory Council member Steven Pinker is a rockstar academic. He has written 10 books, many of which are bestsellers, including most recently “The Better Angels of our Nature” and “The Sense of Style.” On this episode of So to Speak, we chat with professor Pinker about free speech, free inquiry, taboo, dangerous ideas, and, of course, his forthcoming book on the Enlightenment: “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.” Here is

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54:39

Ep. 44 Berkeley then and now

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2017/11/02

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. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in security costs to protect another. Speaking invitations extended and then (maybe?) rescinded. And that’s just this year. On this episode of So to Speak, we revisit the events surrounding the 1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement to see if the university’s storied past can teach us

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01:25:34

Ep. 43 LIVE EVENT: Viewpoint diversity on campus

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2017/10/19

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 habits of thought that will add to America's political divisions? Does political orthodoxy reduce the quality of research, scholarship, and education? Heterodox Academy and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education conducted a live panel discussion at New York University in New York City on Tuesday,

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44:20

Ep. 42 ‘Is this the day the Internet dies?’

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2017/10/05

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 wrong? On today’s episode of So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, FIRE’s Alex Morey talks to experts on all sides of the issue, from the Facebook team working to keep the social network uncensored — but also safe — for users, to directors at Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Committee to Protect

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48:15

Ep. 41 The British free speech invasion

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast ·

2017/09/21

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 college campuses. On today’s episode of So to Speak, we catch up with spiked editors Tom Slater and Ella Whelan in New Jersey to chat about the tour, which kicks off next week in Washington, D.C. We also discuss developments overseas, including spiked’s latest free speech rankings of campuses in the United

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