Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/07/2026
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
This event is organized by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy in conjunction with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) and UNC Chapel Hill chapter of the AAUP.
As higher education faces unprecedented public scrutiny and interference, the traditional boundaries of academic freedom are being rapidly redrawn. This panel brings together national leaders at the intersection of labor, law and academia to dissect the modern realities of academic freedom. Featuring American Association of University Professors (AAUP) President Todd Wolfson, renowned UNC sociologist and New York Times columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom and ACLU lawyer Leah Watson, the conversation will explore how institutional governance, systemic inequities and public-facing scholarship collide with constitutional protections. Together, the panelists will address these questions: What does academic freedom actually protect in today’s volatile climate, and how do attacks on faculty labor impact the future of open inquiry and a democratic society?
Panel Participants:
Dr. Todd Wolfson is president of the American Association of University Professors, which represents more than 50,000 faculty and higher education workers nationwide. He also serves as a national vice president of the American Federation of Teachers and is a longtime leader of the Rutgers Academic Workers Union. Wolfson is an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University and co-director of the Media, Inequality & Change Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom is an award-winning author, professor and sociologist whose work examines technology, higher education, class, race and gender. She is a principal investigator with UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center for Information, Technology and Public Life, a New York Times columnist and a 2020 MacArthur Fellow.
Leah Watson is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, where her work focuses on classroom censorship, diversity, equity and inclusion, homelessness, policing and racial health disparities. She was part of the legal team in Pernell v. Lamb, which successfully challenged the higher education provisions of Florida’s Stop W.O.K.E. Act on First Amendment grounds. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Light snacks and drinks will be provided before.
It is part of UNC’s First Amendment Day and is free and open to the public. Students can earn Campus Life Experience (CLE) credit.
Tagged: 1ad2026
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