The Free Speech Recession and How to Reverse It: Five Lessons From History with Jacob Mchangama

Join us on Monday, October 7, 2024 for the 39th annual Silha Lecture, “The Free Speech Recession and How to Reverse It: Five Lessons from History,” when Professor Jacob Mchangama will explore the ongoing decline in freedom of speech and will defend the necessity for principled defenders of free speech in the 21st century. In a Persuasion post in early September, “Reflections on Right-Wing Cancel Culture,” Profession Mchangama cited “the urgent need for a collective commitment to uphold the principles of a vibrant culture of free speech, which will allow us to respond to ideas we loathe with scorn or criticism without resorting to punitive measures that undermine the pluralistic foundation of free societies.” The 2024 Silha Lecture will take place at 7pm at the Cowles Auditorium on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis. Professor Mchangama will explore questions such as: How have fears of new technology, from the printing press to Generative AI, shaped our current legal and policy landscape? How can history guide us in preserving this fundamental right? Professor Mchangama is the founder and executive director of The Future of Free Speech, an independent, non-partisan think tank located at Vanderbilt University. He is also a research professor at Vanderbilt and a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He has written extensively on free speech and human rights in media outlets including the Economist, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, BBC, CBS News, NPR, CNN, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Wall Street Journal, and Politico, as well as top-tier academic and peer-reviewed journals. Professor Mchangama produces and narrates the podcast “Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech” and is the author of the critically-acclaimed book, Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media, published by Basic Books in 2022. His book will be available for sale at the Lecture, and a book signing will follow. The 39th Annual Silha Lecture is sponsored by the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, based at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. The Lecture is free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are necessary to attend the Lecture in person. The Lecture will also be livestreamed, but registration is required. Registration is available here. For further information, please contact the Silha Center by phone at 612-625-3421, or by email at [email protected].

Event Links

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2637595-0

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