SpeechMatters

This month we have the honor of talking with Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., California Secretary of State, about voting, education and the future of democracy. Dr. Weber draws on both her lived experience and her storied career as an educator and national leader in expanding voter access to discuss barriers facing college student voters and the vital role higher education plays in cultivating civic responsibility. Her insights offer hope and practical steps for strengthening democracy in 2026 and beyond.
Episode Resources:
More official California voting locations and vote-by-mail ballot drop-off locations can be found at caearlyvoting.sos.ca.gov once the election gets closer.
For more information on the upcoming election, visit vote.ca.gov
To learn more about California’s college civic engagement efforts, visit California Students Vote Project

In the season five premiere of the SpeechMatters podcast, host Michelle Deutchman speaks with Center Co-chairs Howard Gillman, Chancellor of UC Irvine, and Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law, about their upcoming book, Campus Speech and Academic Freedom: A Guide for Difficult Times. Against the backdrop of recent controversies — from legislative restrictions on teaching and campus protests to political pressure on colleges and universities — the episode explores how higher education leaders can navigate free speech, academic freedom and institutional governance in 2026.
Resources:
Campus Speech and Academic Freedom
Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion - The New York Times

In the final episode of season four of the SpeechMatters podcast, guest host and former fellow Emerson Sykes of the ACLU sits down with UC Davis law professor and former fellow Brian Soucek to explore the idea of institutional neutrality in higher education and why neutrality may be a myth. Drawing on Soucek’s forthcoming book, “The Opinionated University,” the conversation examines whether universities can, or should remain neutral amid political polarization, how claims of neutrality can undermine academic freedom and what role administrators, faculty and students should play in shaping a university’s mission and values.
Episode Resources:
The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education, Soucek
Institutional Values, Academic Freedom, and the First Amendment | UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement

What does it take to create a campus where open dialogue and inclusion thrive side by side? Guest host Alex Kappus talks with Caroline Mehl, the co-founder and executive director of the Constructive Dialogue Institute, about how higher education can model the kind of discourse democracy demands. Together they explore the social science behind constructive dialogue, what leaders can do to foster trust and why free expression remains essential to learning and civic life.
Episode Resources:
The Path Forward After Political Murder by Jonathan Haidt and Caroline Mehl, the Chronicle of Higher Education
Higher Education’s Role in a Polarized America by Alex Kappus, Carnegie Blog
Building Cultures of Constructive Dialogue: A Blueprint for Campus Leaders

In this episode, constitutional law scholar Timothy Zick joins us to discuss how President Trump’s second term is testing our commitments to free expression and academic freedom. From the chilling of faculty speech to the fraught intersection of the First and Second Amendments, Zick examines how executive overreach is placing the nation’s core democratic freedoms under unprecedented strain.
Episode Resources
Thoughts on the First Substack
Trump 2.0: Executive Power and the First Amendment
“New Threats to Campus Protest”