UnHerd with Freddie Sayers Greg Lukianoff: America's new free speech crisis
Dec 22, 2025
In a riveting discussion, Greg Lukianoff, president of FIRE and constitutional lawyer, reveals alarming trends in academic freedom and censorship. He highlights how 2025 is the worst year for campus censorship, driven by both left and right political pressures. Lukianoff recounts the chilling aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination and discusses the repressive actions against students for controversial speech, including visa threats for noncitizens. He argues for the necessity of defending all speech, critiquing those who selectively advocate for free expression.
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2025 Surpassed 2020 As Free Speech Peak
- FIRE reports 2025 exceeded 2020 in campus student and scholar sanctions, signaling a new peak of censorship. 2025 saw 273 student-sanction attempts and 309 scholar-sanction attempts, the highest on record.
Collision Of Campus Left And Off‑Campus Right
- The censorship landscape shifted: left-leaning campus censorship persisted while an aggressive off-campus right began pressuring institutions. This created a worst-of-both-worlds environment for free expression in 2025.
Man Jailed Over Meme After Charlie Kirk Murder
- Larry Bushart, a Tennessee ex-cop, spent 37 days jailed over a meme mocking Trump after Charlie Kirk's murder. The case used a specious threat argument tying a meme to a nearby high school and set a $2 million bond.