the backlash continues Following last week's scathing Congressional hearing on anti-Semitism where University presidents from three Ivy League schools came under Fire after they appeared to evade questions about campus policies on anti-Semitism and whether they'd discipline students who call for the genocide of Jews congresswoman Mikey Cheryl on Monday sent a letter to the leadership of every highered institution in New Jersey asking for their concrete plans to address the rise of anti-Semitism being reported at colleges across the state this as Harvard's president claudin gay today received the unanimous backing of the University's board to keep her position despite growing calls for her ouster but upen president Elizabeth McGill she wasn't as lucky she resigned amid pressure in the wake of the controversy all of it has thrust the politics of Campus Free Speech into the spotlight to dive deeper I'm joined by Kristen Shahverdian an expert on free expression and education at panamerica Kristen cheran thanks so much for joining me so let me ask you about the scrutiny that these college presidents have received is it an appropriate response or is it a threat to open expression at colleges and universities well thank you for having me here today um I think the answer is not so much an either or but there's a lot of complexity here and a lot of things going on on one hand there's absolutely things that the college presidents could have done better uh they were walking into a really challenging situation um but they absolutely could have condemned um anti-Semitism and explain the complexity of the issue and what they're facing on campuses and what they are going to be doing uh what they have been doing and what they're going to be doing to really help um the climate on campuses so I think that uh in that light there is um scrutiny that that I hope that college presidents and campus communities overall will really take campuses can do a lot to really help uh their community Through education uh through really understanding what uh the first amendment protects where uh Speech or action again we remember context matters does cross the line and also they need to be doing a lot for their students and for their Campus Community to uh uphold everyone's right and and to have speech but also to provide opportunities and resources for students who might be feeling like they're not safe who need help with u Mental Health Resources they can also do a lot of Education around what is free expression what is academic freedom why does it matter historically to a university why isn't it a value we're holding on to you know private universities have different um obligations and while we recommend they really Hue very close to First Amendment protections they also can be putting into place policies and really articulating how those policies uh work across campus I think one of the key things is a lack of understanding for everyone on campus of what the policies are how they're being implemented how are they being implemented fairly so that that communication that Clarity can really come through and you know well it's very hard to do in times of Crisis they can also be doing these things and they should be uh proactively consistently and confidently throughout the the academic yeah let me bring it back Kristen so ultimately what threat if any is posed when you have bodies like this going before a political institution like Congress um where intervention is uh I guess um expected is there a threat there um what we you know what we look at and what we're concerned about is the the fact that right now we're in a political climate where there certainly have been um politicians and legislation that has been put forth in the last year that has curtailed academic freedom on campuses um and we want to be mindful and aware uh that this current crisis could be used to embolden uh certain politicians to dive even further into their curtailing of higher education's autonomy uh and ability to do their job and do their jobs well and so now is a real time where higher ed can really demonstrate what they are doing to uh uphold Free Speech protections uphold that value very strongly and be doing many many more things to support all of their students across campus Kristen sherdian is with the organization pen America Kristen thank you so much thank you for having me