Forum Live: Should Universities Take A Stand? feat. Erwin Chemerinsky and Brian Soucek

Should universities take public stands on pressing political and social issues, or strive to remain neutral spaces for open inquiry and debate? How should they navigate campus protests, controversial guest speakers, DEI policies, and government efforts to control faculty speech and curricula? 

UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and UC Davis law professor Brian Soucek join Forum’s Alexis Madrigal for a timely conversation about the evolving role of higher education in a polarized society.

At a critical moment when institutional speech faces unprecedented political pressures, what happens when academic values, free expression, the responsibilities that universities have to their communities collide?

About the Guests

Erwin Chemerinsky is Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He is the author of 20 books including Campus Speech and Academic Freedom: A Guide for Difficult Times (2026), co-authored with Howard Gilman.

Brian Soucek is a Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis. He served as Chair of the university’s system-wide Committee on Academic Freedom, and is author of The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education (2026).