Ep. 255: Authoritarians in the Academy

Oct 15, 2025 - 17:00
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Ep. 255: Authoritarians in the Academy

FIRE Senior Scholar Sarah McLaughlin discusses her new book, “Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:17 Book origins

03:38 How China censored speech on American campuses

18:36 COVID’s impact for international students’ speech

22:05 What is sensitivity exploitation?

25:35 Free speech at international satellite campuses

31:28 Attempted deportations of Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk

36:52 Sarah’s free speech inspirations: literature and people

Read the transcript here: https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/so-speak-transcript-authoritarians-academy

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