SpeechMatters Podcast
SpeechMatters is the official podcast of the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. The podcast features thought leaders tackling the most pressing issues impacting free expression and democracy on campus and beyond. Hosted by the Center’s Executive Director, Michelle Deutchman.
Episode 3: Book Banning: Local Fights, Dangerous Implications
In this episode, special guest Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, discusses the alarming rise in book bans across the United States, and what this dangerous trend means for the future of education, politics, and our essential freedoms. Full transcript available here.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation
Resources
- American Library Association (ALA): Intellectual Freedom: Issues and Resources
- ALA: State Legislative Toolkit
- ALA State of America’s Libraries Special Report: Pandemic Year Two (2022)
- Board of Education v. Pico, 457 U.S. 85
- PEN America: “Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights“
- Unite Against Book Bans
- Article in The Washington Post by Annie Gowen: “Censorship battles’ new frontier: Your public library“
- Article in CNN by Ronald Brownstein: “Book bans move to center stage in the red-state education wars“
Episode 2: Leading with love in the face of targeted harassment
In this episode, Michelle Deutchman sits down with Dania Matos, the Vice Chancellor for the Division of Equity & Inclusion at the University of California, Berkeley. The pair discusses Dania’s commitment to “leading with love” in her equity and inclusion work in the private, nonprofit and government sectors, and her experience with targeted harassment because of this important work. Full transcript available here.
Dania Matos, Vice Chancellor for the Division of Equity & Inclusion, UC Berkeley
Resources
- UCI Resources to Support Academics Targeted by Online Harassment
- Research by 2020-2021 Fellow Nina M. Flores: “Tweets, Threats and Censorship: Campus Resources To Support Faculty Through Incidents of Targeted Harassment“
- Fellows in the Field Interactive Workshop: “Tweets, Threats and Censorship: Campus Resources To Support Faculty Through Incidents of Targeted Harassment“
- Article in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Sarah Brown: “Many Student-Affairs Officials Are Considering Leaving the Field“
- Ask the Experts: Diversity and Expression
Episode 1: “Cheap Speech” and its toll on our democracy
During the inaugural episode of SpeechMatters, Center Executive Director Michelle Deutchman sits down with Professor Rick Hasen, a national authority on elections and author of the recently published Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics—and How to Cure It, to discuss the state of democracy and the persistent threat of disinformation. Full transcript available here.
Richard L. Hasen, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science, UC Irvine
Resources
- Article in The Washington Post by Richard L. Hasen: “Facebook and Twitter could let Trump back online. But he’s still a danger.“
- Article in Slate by Richard L. Hasen: “How Supreme Court Radicalism Could Threaten Democracy Itself“
- Article in The New York Times by Richard L. Hasen: “How to Keep the Rising Tide of Fake News From Drowning Our Democracy“
- Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics—and How to Cure It by Richard L. Hasen
