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State of Democracy: Is Free Speech Killing Democracy?

Maxwell Hall, Maxwell Auditorium

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The State of Democracy Lecture Series welcomes Jacob Mchangama, a lawyer, writer and activist in Denmark. He is founder and executive director of Justitia, and host of the podcast "Clear and Present Danger: a history of free speech."

Justitia is Denmark's first judicial think tank aiming to promote the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedom rights, both within Denmark and abroad. Mchangama's talk will take seriously the idea, advanced by many, that free speech has been “weaponized” by extremists and turned against the very values this freedom was meant to serve, as witnessed by attack on the Capitol on January 6th which could not have happened without a campaign of lies and disinformation that went viral on social media. But it will use both historical and contemporary examples to argue that free speech is still the “Bulwark of Liberty” and the foundation of democracy, and that using censorship and repression to protect democracy is a cure worse than the disease.

Respondent: Tom Keck, professor of political science, and Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics

This lecture is sponsored by the Campbell Public Affairs Institute and made possible through a generous gift from the Norman M. and Marsha Lee Berkman Fund.

A reception and book signing will immediately follow the lecture.  


Category

Social Science and Public Policy

Type

Lectures and Seminars

Region

Campus

Open to

Alumni

Faculty

Parents and Families

Staff

Students, Graduate and Professional

Students, Prospective

Students, Undergraduate

Cost

None

Organizer

MAX-Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Contact

Jackie Nocevski
315-443-5850 or 9707

Jjnocevs@syr.edu

Accessibility

Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART)

Captioning

Contact Jackie Nocevski to request additional accommodations

Exterior of Maxwell in black and white when there was no Eggers building

We’re Turning 100!


To mark our centennial in the fall of 2024, the Maxwell School will hold special events and engagement opportunities to celebrate the many ways—across disciplines and borders—our community ever strives to, as the Oath says, “transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

Throughout the year leading up to the centennial, engagement opportunities will be held for our diverse, highly accomplished community that now boasts more than 38,500 alumni across the globe.