MFSA's 2024 Conference

Thursday, September 26, 2024

MFSA hosted its second annual conference  at the Le Méridien Boston Cambridge hotel on September 26, 2024. As with our 2023 conference, this year's program featured a variety of panel discussions and lectures on topics concerning free speech and academic freedom both at MIT and in higher education more generally, including through the national alumni movement of which MFSA is part. Roughly 75 members of the MIT community, We were delighted to host Harvard University professor Steven Pinker as the keynote speaker. Professor Pinker, a co-founder of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard, has been among academia's foremost faculty leaders in promoting free inquiry in higher education.

2024 Conference Theme: Turning the Tide at MIT

Last year was a difficult one for higher education, as global events – namely the October 7 terror attack in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza – unleashed a wave of protests, disruptions, and discontent on campuses nationwide. MIT was no stranger to the controversies of the past year, with disruptive demonstrations and a prolonged encampment testing its principles on free expression. 

In spite of these obstacles and setbacks, however, MFSA saw hope that we may look back at this period as one in which MIT took important steps to establish itself as a leading light for free expression. As such, MFSA was pleased to have the participation of several members of the MIT faculty and administration who are closely involved with the work of strengthening MIT’s culture of free expression for the future. Participants included Karl Reid, MIT’s Vice President of Equity and Inclusion, who led a panel discussion covering various efforts underway to promote civil discourse at MIT, as well as professors Michael Sipser and Anette (Peko) Hosoi, co-chairs of MIT’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Campus Expression (CAFCE), which was charged by MIT President Sally Kornbluth with advising the Institute on further enshrining the principles of MIT’s Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. 

Attendees also heard from a distinguished panel of other university leaders who are working to further free speech at a cross section of public and private universities. Renowned civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate connected the proceedings with a discussion  of the fundamental importance of free speech – even speech we hate – in a free society, and especially in our institutions of higher education. Finally, a panel of MIT students discussing their own experiences in MIT’s charged climate provided important insights into the student experience – and a model of civil discussion around difficult topics. A playlist of the complete conference is available on MFSA's YouTube page, and the individual sessions are listed and linked in order below:

• Opening Remarks
• MIT's Committee on Academic Freedom & Campus Expression
• The Pursuit of Civil Discourse at MIT
• Lessons from Peer Institutions
• Keynote: Human Rationality and Academic Freedom
• Legal and Moral Foundations of Free Speech
• The Student Free Speech Experience at MIT
• Closing Remarks

2024 Conference Speakers

Below is a listing of speakers and panelists participating in MFSA's 2024 conference.  This year's program, in addition to being viewable on our website, can be downloaded at this link. 

• Michael Sipser, Donner Professor of Mathematics, MIT and Co-Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom and Campus Expression
• Anette (Peko) Hosoi, Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT and Co-Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom and Campus Expression
• Angie Jo, Doctoral Candiddate, Political Economy, MIT
• Karl W. Reid, Vice President of Equity and Inclusion, MIT
• Harvey Silverglate, civil liberties lawyer and author; co-founder, Foundation for Individual rights and Expression (FIRE)
• Jason Merchant, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Chicago
• David Reingold, Senior Vice President for Policy Planning and Justin S. Morrill Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University
• Ramsey White, Secretary, Board of Trustees, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Joseph de Gearo, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Adelphi University

• Nathan Barczi, Associate Director & Senior Theologian, MIT Octet Collaborative

• Linda Rabieh, Senior Lecturer, MIT Concourse

• Elena Sapora, realtalk@MIT Program Lead

• Spencer Sindhusen '27, Co-President, MIT Students for Open Discourse

• Helen Wang, Senior Associate Dean, Office of Residential and Community Life

Keynote Speaker: Steven Pinker

Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University

Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist who conducts research in visual cognition, psycholinguistics, and social relations. He grew up in Montreal and earned his BA from McGill University and his PhD from Harvard University. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, he was previously the Peter de Florez Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, on whose faculty he served from 1982 to 2003. He has won numerous prizes for his research, his teaching, and his books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, and Enlightenment Now. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Humanist of the Year, a recipient of nine honorary doctorates, and one of Foreign Policy’s World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals and Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World Today. He was Chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, and writes frequently for the New York Times, the Guardian, and other publications. His twelfth book, published in 2021, is called Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.

Conference Photos