The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will celebrate its Seventeenth First Amendment Day on Wednesday, October 7, 2026.
This campus-wide, daylong series of events is designed to both celebrate the First Amendment and explore its role in the lives of Carolina students. Students and other members of the university community read from banned books and discuss the public university’s special role as a marketplace of ideas and the need to be tolerant when others exercise their rights.
First Amendment Day is observed during National Banned Books Week. To check out past First Amendment Day events, please use the links on the right.
First Amendment Day is organized by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy and is one of the highlights of the year for the UNC community.
2026 First Amendment Day Events
First Amendment for Student Leaders Workshop
Carroll Hall Room 33
9:30 am - 10:45 am
This event is organized by the Freedom Forum.
The First Amendment isn’t just a history lesson — your rights are your toolkit for shaping the future. College is one of the best places to practice engaging with complex free expression issues. As student leaders, you put your freedoms to use all the time: you speak up, bring others together, elevate student perspectives and engage in university decisions.
With this leadership comes responsibility. You need to know when you make decisions that impact other students’ right to expression and when you’re simply exercising your own. You don’t have to navigate this alone.
Join a First Amendment for Student Leaders workshop with nationally recognized First Amendment specialist Alex Morey on Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 9:30-10:45 a.m.. This workshop is provided in partnership with Freedom Forum, a national nonpartisan organization dedicated to fostering First Amendment freedoms for all. The workshop will take place in Carroll Hall room 33.
Learn more about your rights, the limitations and how to ensure other students are informed too!
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.
Banned Books Reading
Front steps of Manning Hall
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Hosted in collaboration with the School of Data and Information Sciences (SDIS) and the University Libraries, this event celebrates our essential First Amendment rights through the power of literature.
We’re still censoring books in 2026? Yes! And it means a lot more than taking books off the shelves of libraries and schools. It also means that our constitutionally-guaranteed right to read under the First Amendment is under attack.
Stand Up for the Freedom to Read: Join Us for a Public Reading of Banned Books
Experience:
- Live readings from banned and challenged books by Carolina community members
- Interactive button-making station celebrating literary freedom
- Special collection of banned books available for checkout
- Discussions about the impact of censorship on democracy
Banned Books Week, which takes place this year from October 5th through October 11th, was created as a response to censorship and to highlight the necessity of free and open access to information. This year’s theme is “Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.”
Help defend the freedom to read. Because when books are under attack, democracy is too.
Do you want to read aloud? Sign-up here for a specific time here.
This event is part of UNC’s First Amendment Day and is free and open to the public. Students can earn Campus Life Experience (CLE) credit.
Free Press in a Time of Algorithms and AI
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
10:00 am - 11:00 am
This event is hosted by the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media.
How free is a free press in the era of AI and algorithms? This panel will explore how artificial intelligence and algorithmic systems are reshaping journalism, influencing public trust and affecting the ability of a free press to reach and serve communities. Marisa Porto, director of the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media and Knight Chair in Local Media, will moderate the conversation.
Panel Participants:
Dr. Tori Smith Ekstrand is a professor at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, where she teaches and conducts research on media law, artificial intelligence governance, free expression, academic freedom and technology policy in the United States and Europe. A recipient of a 2026 Fulbright-Schuman Award and UNC’s Faculty Award for Global Excellence, she has been deeply involved in UNC’s partnership with the University of Tübingen and in transatlantic research and teaching on constitutional culture, institutional governance and emerging technologies. She is the former co-director of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, an affiliate of the UNC Center for Information, Technology and Public Life and vice president of AAUP North Carolina, where she has led efforts to establish an academic freedom legal hotline for faculty. She is also the lead editor of a widely used media law textbook, with its ninth edition forthcoming in 2027, and a recipient of the Hussman School’s Edward Vick Prize for Innovation in Teaching.
Lisa Macklin is the former associate vice provost and university librarian at Emory University, where she served for more than 20 years before retiring in April 2026. During her tenure, she held several leadership positions, including associate dean of research, engagement and scholarly communications and interim dean of libraries. A graduate of Georgia State University College of Law, Macklin is recognized nationally for her expertise in copyright, open access and scholarly communication. She served as principal investigator for the Mellon-funded Model Publishing Contract for Digital Scholarship, an open-access book contract used by university presses. Her work at Emory also advanced research-data support, digital collections, student services and collaboration across the university.
Rebecca “Becky” Troyer is editor-in-chief of the Triangle Business Journal, where she leads the newsroom’s strategy and operations. She first joined the publication as managing editor in 2013 and later served as editor in American City Business Journals newsrooms in Greensboro and Denver. She subsequently held corporate leadership roles with ACBJ as director of newsletter operations and regional editor before returning to the Triangle Business Journal. Before entering journalism, Troyer practiced as a transactional business attorney in Indiana. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music and a law degree from Indiana University.
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.
Free Press Around the Globe
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
This event is hosted by the Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media.
The discussion will focus on the growing pressures facing independent journalism and democratic institutions around the world, including authoritarianism, misinformation, economic sustainability and the role of technology platforms.
Panel Participants:
Anuradha Bhasin
Anuradha Bhasin is managing editor of the Kashmir Times and a journalist with more than 35 years of experience reporting on the Kashmir conflict, human rights, militarization and geopolitics in South Asia. She is the author of A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir after Article 370 (Harper Collins India, 2022). Bhasin has been a prominent voice documenting press restrictions, legal challenges and communications shutdowns affecting journalists in Kashmir.
Irma Dimitradze
Irma Dimitradze is a Communications Manager and journalist at Gazeti Batumelebi LLC, an independent Georgian media organization that operates batumelebi.ge and netgazeti.ge. She is the author of a recent data investigation that exposed the abuse of personal data (https://batumelebi.netgazeti.ge/archevnebi/551385/), including special category data, affecting tens of thousands of voters by Georgia’s ruling party ahead of the country’s October 2024 elections. Dimitradze has a particular journalistic interest in China-Georgia relations and, in her role as Communications Manager, is actively engaged in independent media advocacy projects and programs. Irma Dimitradze is also a member of the International Press Institute (IPI), a Vienna-based global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists.
Faisal Karimi
Faisal Karimi is an Afghan journalist, media entrepreneur and journalism instructor at Ohlone College in California. Before the Taliban takeover, he served as an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Herat University and worked with Afghan media organizations. Now living in exile, Karimi focuses on supporting Afghan journalists and strengthening independent media networks operating outside the country.
José J. Nieves
José J. Nieves is editor-in-chief of the independent Cuban media platform El Toque and executive director of the Mas Voces Foundation. A Cuban journalist living in exile in Miami since 2019, he leads atransnational newsroom now operating across 10 countries after government pressure forced journalists to leave Cuba. As an ICFJ Knight Fellow, he is developing a sustainability playbook for exiled newsrooms focused on revenue diversification, operational resilience andlong-term viability for independent journalism serving communities inside authoritarian regimes.
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.
UNC Voter Registration Drive
Carolina Union
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Democracy Starts Here: Quick and Easy Voter Registration Outside of the Carolina Union
Hosted by the UNC Office of Student Life & Leadership.
In just minutes, you can ensure your voice is heard in the upcoming midterm election.
Trained volunteers will help you:
- Register to vote or update your registration
- Learn about absentee voting options
- Create your personalized voting plan
- Verify your polling location
- Understand voter ID requirements
This is a strictly nonpartisan event focused solely on helping you exercise your right to vote. No political parties, candidates or ballot initiatives will be promoted.
What to Bring:
- Driver’s license or last 4 digits of SSN
- Current address
- Previous registration address (if applicable)
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.
AI and the Midterm Elections
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
This panel is organized by the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP).
This panel will explore the many ways that artificial intelligence is shaping the politics and practice of the U.S. midterm elections. Experts and practitioners will discuss how campaigns use AI to generate content, how voters seek out information about candidates and how the construction of data centers raises fears about labor displacement, among other local concerns. Along the way, panelists will consider what AI is and isn’t, the many claims made about AI by various stakeholders, the industries and labor that make AI possible and the sweeping political, economic, labor and environmental implications of these technologies.
This event is part of UNC’s First Amendment Day and is free and open to the public. Students can earn Campus Life Experience (CLE) credit.
The Two-Way Mirror: Transparency on the UNC Campus
UNC Law School, Room 5042
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
This event is organized by the UNC Media Law Society.
Public universities are subject to North Carolina’s public records laws and are expected to operate transparently. At the same time, universities increasingly face demands for disclosure from external actors, including legislators, media organizations and members of the public. This panel will explore a central question: When is transparency embraced and when is it resisted?
Drawing on recent controversies surrounding public records requests and the disclosure of course materials, the discussion will examine how transparency obligations are applied, who benefits from disclosure and what these debates reveal about governance, academic freedom and public accountability at a public university.
This event is part of UNC’s First Amendment Day and is free and open to the public.
Ethics Bowl Mock Round with UNC's IEB Team
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
This event is organized by the Parr Center for Ethics.
Join members of UNC’s Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl team for a live mock debate on an ethical dilemma at the intersection of free expression, religious values and democratic governance. This year’s case asks: when a city bans certain flags from public property in the name of neutrality, is it protecting equal treatment or suppressing a community’s right to visibility and recognition?
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.
The Daily Tar Heel's April Fools’ Edition: Satire, Institutional Response and the First Amendment
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
This event is organized by students at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
On April 1, 2026, The Daily Tar Heel, an editorially and financially independent student newspaper, published satirical articles on immigration, Israel-Palestine, DEI and other current events. That same week, the student-run show Hill After Hours faced criticism over a satirical sketch about on-campus housing that some viewed as racially insensitive.
UNC administrators publicly condemned the content and indicated that Student Affairs would meet with DTH leadership and investigate the Hill After Hours sketch. Free speech advocates, including the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), warned that the university’s response could infringe on First Amendment protections and chill student speech. UNC later revised its statement, retracting language that could suggest students or student groups had engaged in unlawful or punishable conduct.
Using these incidents as case studies, this panel will examine how universities should respond to controversial student expression, when administrative criticism may cross into government pressure and how university actions can shape campus speech culture.
Panel Participants:
Dr. Meredith Clark is an associate professor of race and political communication at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
Professor Amanda Martin is a clinical professor of law and supervising attorney of the First Amendment Clinic at Duke University School of Law.
Will Lingo is the executive director of The Daily Tar Heel, UNC-Chapel Hill’s student-run newspaper.
Moderator: Anna Gage – Class of 2028
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.
The UNC Encampments, 3 Years Later
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
This panel is hosted by the student organization TransparUNCy.
This event will examine the state of free expression, protest, surveillance and institutional accountability at UNC in the wake of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment and the campus controversies that followed. Looking back on a moment that many view as a turning point in the university’s history, panelists will discuss the tensions between political dissent and administrative authority, the university’s response to student activism, the role of policing and disciplinary measures in higher education and broader questions about freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and academic freedom on campus.
This First Amendment Day, join us to ask these questions together with the community members who experienced the encampment three years ago and are living in its legacy today. What was it about the encampment that made it such an exception to UNC’s stated commitments to free expression? Why was speech about Palestine treated as such a threat? How has the university’s approach to protest and dissent changed since the Encampment? And, more broadly, who gets to determine what can be said, protested, displayed or challenged at the university?
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.
Why Public Media Matters Now
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio President Paul Hunton will sit down with NPR CEO Katherine Maher for a conversation about the state and future of public media.
Maher will join remotely, while Hunton will moderate the conversation in person. The discussion will be recorded and published at a later date.
Panel Participants:
Katherine Maher is the president and CEO of NPR, with deep experience leading public interest institutions through technological disruption and strategic transformation. Her areas of expertise include information and media, good governance and democracy, civil and human rights, international development and foreign policy.
Prior to joining NPR, Maher was CEO of Web Summit. She served as CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation for five years, leading Wikipedia, one of the world’s most popular digital platforms. She led Wikipedia to its highest public trust since its founding. Before Wikimedia, Maher was at Access Now, the World Bank, the National Democratic Institute and UNICEF.
Paul Hunton is the president and general manager of North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC. He sits on the board of Vision Maker Media, is a 3-time regional Emmy winning documentary director, a former member of the PBS Board of Directors and the former chair of Texas PBS. Before coming to North Carolina, Paul was the general manager of Texas Tech Public Media for seven years where he led the successful acquisition of PBS El Paso and the strategic realignment of the organization into a regional multiplatform news and content company serving West Texas. He started his public media career in the year 2000 at KENW-TV/FM in Portales, New Mexico.
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.
First Amendment Trivia
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
What rights are explicitly protected by the First Amendment? Which U.S. Supreme Court Justice said obscenity was difficult to define, but “I know it when I see it?” When is “speech” unprotected by the First Amendment? When can conduct or clothing be protected by the First Amendment?
Enter our trivia contest and test your knowledge of the First Amendment.
Only current UNC students are eligible to win trivia prizes. This event is part of UNC’s First Amendment Day and is free and open to the public.
Keynote: The Shifting Frontiers of Academic Freedom
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall 305
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
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).
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.