For the Academic Freedom Committee’s first event of the school year, the group is hosting author and free speech activist Christopher Finan for the Sept. 22 Hinckley Forum. 

“Universities and colleges are places where we need free speech and academic freedom,” said Allyson Mower, a librarian at the U and an academic freedom committee member. “It’s where new ideas get explored and discussed and discovered and promulgated. Needing that ultimate freedom is really a foundational component of learning and thinking and communicating.” 

Finan is the executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the author of the book “From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America.” A former newspaper reporter, he received a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. His talk at the University of Utah will focus on his new book “How Free Speech Saved Democracy.”

“I am hoping students will take away some best practices for fostering free speech and expression,” Mower said. “For example, if someone is trying to explore an idea they disagree with, how might they productively engage in that disagreement.” The event will be held from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22, both virtually and in person. More information can be found here