About this episode
We explore how censorship is impacting institutions — from universities to law firms to the Maine House of Representatives. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:40 Federal government cuts Columbia's funding 16:57 Updates on the Mahmoud Khalil case 27:01 Ed Martin's Georgetown letter 34:59 Trump targeting law firms 55:01 Maine House censure of Rep. Laurel Libby 01:03:37 Outro Read the transcript. Guests: - Will Creeley, FIRE's legal director - Conor Fitzpatrick, FIRE's supervising senior attorney - Lindsie Rank, FIRE's director of campus rights advocacy Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org. Show notes: - "DOJ, HHS, ED, and GSA announce initial cancelation of grants and contracts to Columbia University worth $400 million" U.S. Department of Justice (2025) - HHS, ED, and GSA follow up letter to Columbia. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Government Services Administration (2025) - "Columbia yields to Trump in battle over federal funding" The Wall Street Journal (2025) - "Advancing our work to combat discrimination, harassment, and antisemitism at Columbia" Columbia University (2025) - "Columbia caves to feds — and sets a dangerous precedent" FIRE (2
