Trump vs. Academia: Inside the Battle Over Campus Speech with Joe Cohn | Ep 33

Where should the line be drawn between the government's role in stopping discrimination and a university's right to run itself? Today on Heterodox Out Loud, John Tomasi sits down with Joe Cohn, Policy Director at Heterodox Academy, to discuss the complexities of federal intervention in higher education.

Cohn, a First Amendment expert, delves into the implications of recent federal actions, including those by the Trump administration, to combat anti-Semitism and enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. They explore the tension between academic freedom and the necessity of preventing discrimination, examining specific cases of funding pauses and immigration enforcement actions. Cohn argues for procedural rigor in federal oversight to protect both institutional autonomy and individual rights, advocating for persuasion over censorship in addressing bigotry.

In This Episode:

💥 Trump’s policies on DEI and gender ideology    

💥 How Title VI enforcement impacts university funding    

💥 Free speech vs. discrimination on campus    

💥 Immigration enforcement and academic freedom    

💥 Importance of constructive disagreement and viewpoint diversity

About Joe:

Joe Cohn is the inaugural Director of Policy at Heterodox Academy, where he leads efforts to advance open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement through institutional and legislative reforms in higher education. An attorney specializing in civil liberties, Joe holds a JD and a Master’s in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, and as interim legal director for ACLU affiliates in Nevada and Utah. He also taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at Penn Law. Before joining HxA, Joe spent 12 years as Legislative and Policy Director at the Foundation for Individual Rights (FIRE), where he led a team focused on free speech and civil liberties in higher education, regularly engaging lawmakers and testifying nationwide.

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