"At the opening plenary, the legal director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Will Creeley, joined John King, chancellor of the State University of New York, and Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, in condemning institutions that have bent to political pressure. They warned that threats to constitutional rights are no longer a red-state problem."
"'I never thought I'd live in a country where you'd be snatched off the street for writing an op-ed, but that is most definitely our country now,' Creeley said, referring to the 2025 arrest and detention of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish international student studying at Tufts University. Without naming the University of Arkansas or the professor directly, Creeley said it was 'galling' that an institution 'rolled over' when conservative politicians pressured it to rescind an offer to a law school dean-presumably Emily Suski -after discovering she signed an amicus brief in support of transgender athletes."
"'Too often that kind of expedient capitulation, that kind of quiet cowardice, is seen as the easiest way to get through it,' he said. 'Folks, I don't think that's going to work. We've got a serious challenge here. The time is now for institutions to stand up and fight.'"
A free expression lawyer, a university system leader, and a civil rights activist urged higher education leaders to stand up against First Amendment violations and the stifling of campus speech. They condemned institutions that have yielded to political pressure and warned that threats to constitutional rights occur beyond red states. Examples cited included the 2025 arrest and detention of an international student over an op-ed and a university rescinding a law school dean offer after backlash over a signed amicus brief supporting transgender athletes. The speakers characterized institutional capitulation as dangerous and called for robust institutional defense of rights and values.
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