{"podcast":{"title":"Changing Higher Ed","slug":"changing-higher-ed-205463","podcast_index_feed_id":205463,"rss_url":"https://changinghighered.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://changinghighered.com/changing-higher-ed-podcast/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/f/1/7/5/f175834d6107b38b16c3140a3186d450/Changing_Higher_Ed_Podcast___Drumm_McNaughton__The_Change_Leader__LOGO_4.png","author":"Dr. Drumm McNaughton","episode_count":317,"summary":"Changing Higher Ed is dedicated to helping higher education leaders improve their institutions. We offer the latest in higher ed news and insights from top experts in higher education who share their perspectives on how you can grow your institution. Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton is a top higher education consultant, renowned leader, and pioneer in strategic management systems and leadership boards. He's one of a select group with executive leadership experience in academe, nonprofits, government, and business.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-01T08:21:14.364473+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/changing-higher-ed-205463"},"episode":{"title":"FIRE on Campus Leadership and the Defense of Open Inquiry","slug":"fire-on-campus-leadership-and-the-defense-of-open-inquiry","published_at":"2026-02-17T18:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/changing-higher-ed-205463/fire-on-campus-leadership-and-the-defense-of-open-inquiry","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/changing-higher-ed-205463","url":"https://changinghighered.libsyn.com/-draft-p299-sean-stevens","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/changinghighered/CHE-299_-_Sean_Stevens_FINAL.mp3?dest-id=751925","summary":"Free speech on campus is not an abstract constitutional issue—it's a governance challenge for presidents and boards. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Dr. Sean Stevens, Chief Research Advisor at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), to examine the current state of campus free speech and what institutional leaders must do to protect open inquiry under increasing political and social pressure. Drawing on FIRE's national research and campus speech databases, Stevens outlines the sharp rise in government-involved attempts to sanction speech, the growing prevalence of self-censorship among faculty and students, and the structural pressures reshaping intellectual life on U.S. campuses. The conversation moves beyond partisan framing and focuses on leadership responsibility: preserving disciplined pluralism, reinforcing institutional neutrality, and ensuring that students graduate prepared to engage competing ideas with rigor and intellectual humility. Some of the key topics covered in this episode include: The increase in campus speech sanction attempts involving government actors Faculty and student self-censorship trends and what the data reveals Why exposure to competing perspectives is an educational obligation Institutional neutrality as protection for viewpoint diversity The distinction between protected speech and prudent speech in the social media era Practical steps presidents and boards can take to strengthen expressive rights policies Three Takeaways for University Presidents and Boards: Defend expressive rights consistently—even when doing so is politically uncomfortable. Leadership credibility depends on principled application. Recognize that sustained political and social pressure can narr…","meta_description":"Free speech on campus is not an abstract constitutional issue—it's a governance challenge for presidents and boards. In this episode of the Changing Highe…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2270,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/changing-higher-ed-205463/episodes/fire-on-campus-leadership-and-the-defense-of-open-inquiry/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/changing-higher-ed-205463/fire-on-campus-leadership-and-the-defense-of-open-inquiry.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}