Interview with Ilya Shapiro

09/01/23 • 38 min

Universities, more than most institutions, should be places that welcome the free exchange of ideas. Critical thinking is sharpened when one’s beliefs are challenged, and new ideas and perspectives are introduced. This is especially crucial for young people as they prepare to enter an increasingly complex world.

Yet today’s college environment is one in which students and faculty who hold certain viewpoints must find the courage to speak freely. In many cases when they do, they suffer the consequences.

Ilya Shapiro is our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom. He is not only an expert on constitutional rights but has firsthand experience of what it’s like to be a target of the cancel culture movement.

Topics Discussed

Cancel culture’s impact on higher education and what it’s like to experience it firsthand
The drivers behind efforts to suppress free speech at universities
Why university leadership should do more than adopt free speech policies
The undercurrent of censorship in our institutions
U.S. Supreme Court’s last term and the overall state of the court

Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute. Previously, he was executive director and senior lecturer at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution. Before that, he was a vice president at the Cato Institute and director of Cato's Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies.

Yet today’s college environment is one in which students and faculty who hold certain viewpoints must find the courage to speak freely. In many cases when they do, they suffer the consequences.

Topics Discussed

Cancel culture’s impact on higher education and what it’s like to experience it firsthand
The drivers behind efforts to suppress free speech at universities
Why university leadership should do more than adopt free speech policies
The undercurrent of censorship in our institutions
U.S. Supreme Court’s last term and the overall state of the court

Previous Episode

Interview with Robert Enlow

Families have more freedom in education than ever before, thanks in part to increased parental demand for K12 opportunities since the pandemic. In state after state, legislation has passed to expand educational options.

While there has been significant momentum, the groundwork for reform was laid long ago, starting with the vision of Milton and Rose Friedman. The Friedmans broke the mold of the traditional school model by proposing the concept of school choice in 1955. Nearly 70 years later, their revolutionary idea has become embedded in the education landscape, with more than half of the U.S. now having some form of educational choice.

Robert Enlow is our guest on this episode of Voices of Freedom. Since 1996, he has been dedicated to carrying out the Friedmans’ core belief that more education freedom creates greater opportunity for children.

Topics Discussed

Evolution of education freedom, starting with the Friedmans’ vision
Impact of school choice on underperforming schools
Influence of parents on education freedom
Legislative landscape of choice: opportunities and obstacles
How to effectively implement education freedom legislation once it’s passed
U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Espinoza v. Montana
How the Friedmans would view the state of education today

Enlow is the president and CEO of EdChoice. Before its formation in 2016, he was an integral part of the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, serving as fundraiser, projects coordinator, vice president and executive director, prior to being named president and CEO in 2009.

Next Episode

Interview with Greg Lukianoff & Darpana Sheth

Free speech is a bedrock principle that has helped to sustain democracy and catalyze tremendous growth and prosperity in America. At the same time, it’s a right that is often misunderstood or taken for granted. The pervasiveness of technology and increased political polarization has only made free speech issues more complex and often controversial.

Greg Lukianoff and Darpana Sheth are our guests on this episode of Voices of Freedom. They discuss the fundamentals of free speech and make the case for why it’s important to protect all speech.

Topics Discussed

Free speech protections under the First Amendment
FIRE’s updated mission and why it chose to expand its focus
Why free speech must be preserved on college campuses
California’s law to compel professors to adopt certain views and Florida’s law prohibiting professors from expressing certain views
How to ensure that books remain protected speech and are age appropriate in school libraries
The impact of Section 230 and whether it should be reformed
The future of free speech in America

Lukianoff is the president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), an attorney, and the author of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate, Freedom From Speech, and FIRE’s Guide to Free Speech on Campus. Most recently, he co-authored The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure with Jonathan Haidt.

Sheth is an attorney and Vice President of Litigation for FIRE. Darpana joined FIRE after 10 years with the Institute for Justice, where she litigated cutting-edge constitutional cases to protect property rights, economic liberty, and other individual liberties in federal court.