Fighting Hate Speech, Defending Free Speech

The Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs will be hosting an in-person conversation tomorrow with civil liberties leader and free speech expert Nadine Strossen. Kimberly Flowers, the Goldfarb Center's Executive Director, will moderate a robust Q&A with Colby students, faculty, and staff on issues ranging from how to effectively resist hate speech to free speech on college campuses. Strossen will talk about constitutional rights, the role of social media, and much more. The event will officially kick off our speaker series related to freedom of speech, the center’s theme this academic year.

A professor emerita at New York Law School and past national president of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), Strossen is a leading expert and frequent speaker/media commentator on constitutional law and civil liberties, who has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. She serves on the advisory boards of the ACLU, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Heterodox Academy, and National Coalition Against Censorship, and is a Founding Member of the Academic Freedom Alliance.

The National Law Journal has named Strossen one of America’s “100 Most Influential Lawyers,” and several other national publications have named her one of the country’s most influential women. Strossen’s 2018 book HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship has earned praise from ideologically diverse experts, including Harvard Professor Cornel West and Princeton Professor Robert George. Washington University selected HATE as its 2019 “Common Read.” Her earlier book, Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights, was named a New York Times “notable book” of 1995.

Join us in person if you are a part of the Colby community. If you aren't on campus, watch online live. No RSVP needed.