{"id":256584,"date":"2026-04-07T23:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/256584\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T23:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:56:10","slug":"berkeleyside-to-host-panel-talk-on-free-speech-at-uc-berkeley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/256584\/","title":{"rendered":"Berkeleyside to host panel talk on free speech at UC Berkeley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Natera_ProPalestinianProtestCal_260318_005.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/>Student protesters walk through Sather Gate after a pro-Palestinian rally on Sproul Plaza last month. Credit: Ximena Natera for Berkeleyside<\/p>\n<p>Among Berkeley\u2019s biggest claims to fame is its role as the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. Over the years, that movement has involved clashes between Cal students and administrators over the role of political advocacy on campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Today, in the wake of a wave of pro-Palestinian activism, and the Trump administration\u2019s attempts to exert ideological control over universities, the campus often finds itself divided over whether, how and when limits to free speech should apply. Recent flashpoints include the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.berkeleyside.org\/2026\/02\/05\/uc-berkeley-multicultural-community-center\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">temporary closure of the Multicultural Community Center<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.berkeleyside.org\/2025\/12\/23\/uc-berkeley-peyrin-kao-backlash\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">suspension of a lecturer<\/a> for talking about Gaza in his classroom and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.berkeleyside.org\/2025\/09\/17\/university-of-california-students-professors-and-staff-sue-the-trump-administration\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">decision to share 160 names<\/a> of students, staff and faculty with the U.S. Department of Justice as it investigates campus antisemitism.<\/p>\n<p>Next Tuesday, Berkeleyside is hosting what promises to be a timely, informative and thought-provoking conversation that will explore how the university can continue to support free speech and academic freedom at a time of unprecedented challenges for all American universities \u2014 and also consider its track record over the last year.<\/p>\n<p>The State of Free Speech at UC Berkeley<\/p>\n<p>When: Tuesday, April 14, from 6\u20137:30 p.m.\u00a0<br \/>Where: David Brower Center<br \/>Details: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/the-state-of-free-speech-at-uc-berkeley-tickets-1985772121872?\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Event website<\/a><br \/>Tickets: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/the-state-of-free-speech-at-uc-berkeley-tickets-1985772121872?\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Free or $12.51 each. Sales end April 14<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Berkeleyside\u2019s higher education reporter, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.berkeleyside.org\/author\/felicia\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Felicia Mello<\/a>, will moderate a conversation with our guest speakers from UC Berkeley:<\/p>\n<p>Benjamin Hermalin, executive vice chancellor and provost<\/p>\n<p>Chris Hoofnagle, secretary of the Berkeley Initiative for Freedom of Inquiry and professor of law in residence<\/p>\n<p>Ussama Makdisi, professor of history and chancellor\u2019s chair\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ananya Rupanagunta, editor-in-chief and president of the Daily Californian.<\/p>\n<p>Together they will explore how the campus is navigating these challenges and what the future of free expression in higher education might look like more broadly.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets are going fast. Get yours at The State of Free Speech at UC Berkeley <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/the-state-of-free-speech-at-uc-berkeley-tickets-1985772121872\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">event website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gform_required_legend\">&#8220;*&#8221; indicates required fields<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.berkeleyside.org\/author\/berkeleyside-editors\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Avatar photo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775606170_629_bside.jpg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-120 photo\" height=\"120\" width=\"120\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBerkeleyside is Berkeley, California\u2019s independently-owned local news site. Learn more about the Berkeleyside team. Questions? Email editors@berkeleyside.org.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.berkeleyside.org\/author\/berkeleyside-editors\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Berkeleyside Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Student protesters walk through Sather Gate after a pro-Palestinian rally on Sproul Plaza last month. Credit: Ximena Natera&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2465,2466,32987,143,145,144],"class_list":{"0":"post-256584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-home-highlight","9":"tag-home-lead","10":"tag-how-we-work","11":"tag-oakland","12":"tag-oakland-headlines","13":"tag-oakland-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}