The Dissidents

This week Jennifer Richmond and Brandy Shufutinsky speak with Sarah Mchlaughlin on her recently released book – Authoritarians in the Academy. As universities are run more and more like corporations with increasing numbers of administrators, priorities have shifted. As part of this shift, we often see universities making financial decisions that can be at odds with their values, namely freedom of speech. This includes not only US university campuses that operate overseas in places like China and Qatar, but also on our home turf. In order to appease financial partnerships Sarah has found that American universities have become increasingly censorious. In some cases, this censorship is to protect overseas students who face harsh recrimination for speaking out on American campuses in their home country, but in many more cases the calculation is monetary. So, what can we do to roll back these trends? Sarah shares several suggestions, including whistleblower protections, transparent speech codes, and programs that educate vulnerable students on how to exercise their freedom anonymously, when necessary.Podcast Notes:Authoritarians in the Academy: https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/authoritarians-academy

In this discussion, Lyell Asher, a professor at Lewis & Clark and expert on education policy, explores the current state and future of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He reveals how DEI training has faded but warns that bureaucratic influences linger under new titles. Asher critiques education schools for prioritizing ideology over content knowledge, advocating for practical teacher preparation. He defends the importance of factual knowledge in promoting equity and discusses the resurgence of classical education as a response to current challenges.

n this powerful episode of Free Speech Forward, Chris and Joia speak with Muslim feminist reformer Soraya M. Deen, who reveals the shocking reality of advocating for women's rights within religious orthodoxy—where speaking truth can mean exile from your own community. From her awakening moment watching Ayaan Hirsi Ali on C-SPAN as a young mother to co-founding the Clarity Coalition, Deen exposes how cancel culture operates within faith communities and why so many of those who need to speak up remain dangerously silent. As an interfaith advocate fighting extremism and fundamentalism, she shares her radical approach of "truth circles"—creating brave spaces where conflicting ideas can clash without violence. Discover why she believes the greatest weapon against bad ideas is better ideas, how she builds collective consciousness using the "100th monkey" principle, and her urgent call for open debates about anti-Semitism and radical Islamic ideology on college campuses. This episode offers hope and practical strategies for anyone facing opposition within their own community while fighting for fundamental human freedoms. Learn more about Soraya M. Deen’s work at: https://www.claritycoalition.org/soraya-deen/

We have a lot of questions about AI. Maybe you do too. If you follow our work you’ll note that we’ve done several presentations on AI (Reimaging the Academy Panel Discussion, and This is Your Brain on AI Dissidents Podcast). To get a better grasp on both the problems and opportunities, we invited Robert “RSnake” Hansen, a tech security guru and author of the book, AI’s Best Friend, to our podcast. Our conversation centers on the moral alignment of AI. The divergence between censorship and alignment is discussed, which touches on the issue of bad actors in the design on AI. While we work to “raise” AI from infancy into what we hope can model a “best friend”, one of the tools we have to monitor the progression is transparency. We know that China’s DeepSeek leans heavily on censorship; Gemini leans politically left; Grok leans right. These evaluations and critiques are important as we find the best way forward in this new landscape. But will it be enough? If AI can do wonderful things beyond human capacity, like cure cancer, are we ok losing some of our autonomy “to the machine”? Let us know in the comments what you think.Podcast Resources:AI's Best Friend: https://www.amazon.com/AIs-Best-Friend-Robert-Hansen-ebook/dp/B0CWDJCVHT

Dr. Nafees Alam and Matt Watson interview Andrew Hartz, founder of the Open Therapy Institute. They discuss the impact of political issues on mental health training, the importance of addressing bias in therapy, and the need for cultural competence that includes diverse sociopolitical values. Hartz shares insights on diverse approaches in therapy, the significance of self-censorship, and the challenges of navigating emotional responses in therapy sessions. The conversation emphasizes the importance of patient-centered care and building awareness of diverse perspectives in mental health.

Today we’re delighted to begin a new series of episodes under the Free Speech Forward banner, an exploration of free speech and its connection to the Declaration of Independence. This series is a celebration of the Declaration in honor of its upcoming anniversary, a project conducted in partnership by 1776 Forward, the Institute for Liberal Values, and the Free Society Coalition. Today's guest is Marsha Familaro Enright, an educational entrepreneur and thought leader in independent thinking and self-reliance. As the founder of Reliance College and the creator of The Great Connections Seminars, she’s spent decades revolutionizing education to help young minds become leaders of their own lives, learning how to live in and advocate for a free society. Her programs aim to provide what Alexis de Tocqueville called "an apprenticeship of freedom."As we come up on the 250th anniversary of the U.S. founding, understanding its history, ideas, and impact is more crucial than ever and education plays a deep role. Aiming to open in the fall of 2026, Reliance College is a uniquely designed college program combining a rigorous liberal arts and sciences course of study with practical work in the student's area of professional interest. It is an expansion of the 16-year-old week-long The Great Connections Summer Seminar. Year after year since 2009, 75% of participants have testified that their lives have been transformed by this program. It is designed for young adults (ages 16-24) who want to develop independent thinking, leadership skills, and intellectual confidence. Hosted in Chicago, this immersive experience helps participants engage deeply with great ideas, sharpen critical thinking skills, and connect with like-minded peers—all in an exciting, discussion-driven learning environment. 

This week Elizabeth is joined by Ryan Tsapatsaris for a discussion about the complex world of online communities focused on aggression and hate. We draw insights from the book Social Processes of Online Hate as well as Ryan’s own research and expertise in the area. While most of us assume that attackers are laser focused on their targets and on affecting some change, the evidence suggests that attackers are more interested in themselves and in impressing one another. Far more time is spent celebrating, reminiscing, cross-posting, and bragging about their own behaviors than on discussing their target or the target’s behaviors.  Ryan shares examples and his knowledge about platforms like 4chan, the dynamics of anonymity and status, subculture language, and the gamification of online cancellations.  We also spend time talking about “concern trolling” and explore why it works particularly well when directed toward a university or organization. Listen while we work to unpack online hate and its implications for society.Podcast notesRyan’s article on 4chan: https://oilab.eu/the-bakers-guild-the-secret-order-countering-4chans-affordances/  OILab, an Amsterdam-based network of interdisciplinary scholars scrutinizing political subcultures on the fringe corners of the Web: https://oilab.eu/This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture by Whitney Phillips: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262529877/this-is-why-we-cant-have-nice-things/Cancel Culture: Tales from the Front Lines by Paul du Quenoy: https://www.academicapress.com/node/523Walther J. B., Rice R. E. (Eds). (2025). Social process of online hate. Routledge: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/92521

In this gripping episode of Free Speech Forward, Chris and Joia speak with Naya Lekht—a Soviet-born educator and research fellow. Dr. Lekht exposes how American colleges mirror the totalitarian censorship her family escaped in the USSR. Drawing shocking parallels between Marxist indoctrination and today's campus culture, Lekht reveals why the "marketplace of ideas" has been replaced by sanctioned groupthink that's destroying critical thinking skills. As a high school teacher fighting back against educational decline, she shares her radical approach to "activating antennas"—teaching students to detect propaganda and find the courage to stand alone against conformity.Learn why Lekht considers the Pledge of Allegiance a litmus test for schools, how patriotism became a dirty word in education, and why both bad ideas and good ideas are essential for intellectual growth. This eye-opening conversation offers parents and educators practical strategies for reclaiming educational excellence while warning that freedom—far from being humanity's natural state—requires constant vigilance to preserve.Find out more about Dr. Naya Lekht and her work at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naya-lekht-phd-0ba243a3/

On the eve of July 4th, co-authors Jennifer Richmond and Winkfield Twyman joined Equiano Project Head of Content Ada Akpala for an insightful conversation about blackness and race identity with noted podcaster Danielle Romero.  A native of Troy, New York, Danielle discovered one day that her putative French and Irish maternal great grandmother Lola Perot had spent all her married life passing for white in New York. In fact, Lola was born Creole (colored) in Louisiana. In a fascinating roundtable, we explore where does Romero land in our country's obsession with racial identity? What does it mean when a European American discovers the story of one's family was a racial lie? Is it possible that Romero's origin story can bring us closer to connection in our universal humanity? Is the true impact of Danielle's story not her ancestor who passed for white, but that Danielle's mixed ancestry is a lens into our racial future as Americans?  In a sense, Danielle is the tip of a spear. More and more Americans will discover they are of multiple ancestry groups over time. Come join us for an hour with a national leader in the hunt for identity sans race.    Podcast NotesDanielle Romero’s Podcast, NYTNThe Equiano Project https://www.theequianoproject.com/My great grandmother hid who she was. 20 years later I understand why | Opinion, The Tennessean, Danielle RomeroRace Is Beginning to Bore Me, Winkfield Twyman, Jr. The Legacies of Black Pioneers: The Problem with Black Excellence with Ada Akpala, The Dissidents PodcastAre Light-Skinned People the White People of the Black Community? Winkfield Twyman, Jr.The Souls of Black Folk, Winkfield Twyman, Jr.This is Your Brain on AI: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Dissidents Podcast

In this inspired episode of Free Speech Forward (recorded and released right around Independence Day), Joia and Chris speak with educator and free speech advocate Jason Littlefield, who reveals why the First Amendment isn't just about politics—it's about human flourishing and psychological well-being. Drawing from groundbreaking neuroscience research, Littlefield explains how self-censorship literally damages our brains and prevents both individual and societal progress.As the creator of Empowered Humanity Theory and co-founder of Free Black Thought, Littlefield advocates living by principles rather than party politics as a way to break us free from the toxic tribalism that's poisoning our schools, workplaces, and communities.Discover why both political extremes reject his science-based approach to human dignity, and learn practical strategies for building a culture where free expression and genuine dialogue can thrive again. This episode offers hope and actionable insights for anyone exhausted by our polarized discourse and ready to reclaim the foundational freedom that makes all other freedoms possible – let’s get it done. Learn more about Empowered Humanity Theory at: https://www.empoweredhumanitytheory.com/