2025 Conference Program

[Workshop] Become an ‘Honest Broker’: Learn Communication Strategies Workshop that Resist Political Pressures and Restore Trust in Research | Bryan Gentry, University of South Caroline & Matt Burgess, University of Wyoming

[Panel Discussion] STEM Strikes Back: How Elevating STEM Voices Can Restore the Academy’s Reputation – and How to Get Them in the Room | Ian Hutchinson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Frank Laukien, Bruker Corporation and Harvard University; John Williams, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Moderated by: Wayne Stargard, MIT Free Speech Alliance

[Panel Discussion] The Left-Wing Case for Open Inquiry, Viewpoint Diversity, and Constructive Disagreement in Higher Education | Chris Cutrone, School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Benjamin Studebaker, University of Cambridge; Benjamin Zachariah, Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies at Heidelberg University; Moderated by: Edward Remus, Northeastern Illinois University

[Panel Discussion] Sociopolitical Bias in Medical and Mental Healthcare: Emerging Threats to Patients and Practitioners | Andrew Hartz, Open Therapy Institute; Sally Satel, Yale University School of Medicine; Michael Strambler, Yale University School of Medicine; Moderated by: Dean McKay, Fordham University

[Symposium] Beyond the Constraints: Protecting and Promoting Heterodox Thinking 

• Lessons Learned from Soviet/Russian Political Overreach in Universities: Parallels to Modern Western Academia | Alexandra Lysova, Simon Fraser University
• Is GenAI the Best Adversary When No Adversary Will Come Forward? Discussing Indigenization at Wilfrid Laurier University | Michael Pavlin, Wilfrid Laurier University
• Women Are Not Rubik's Cubes: Why We Keep Having to 'Solve' the (Non) Mystery of Female Orgasm | Robert King, University College Cork

[Symposium] Sharing Actionable Tools for Achieving Better Scholarship and Teaching

• Reflexivity Toolkit to Open True Dialogue: Enhancing Educator's Self-Awareness, Self-Inquiry and Responsibility in Higher Education | Andrea Valente, York University
• Three Tools for Protecting the 'Heterodox Way' in Academia | 
  Justin Kalef, Rutgers University
• Moral Values Education: A Framework for Ethical Responsibility in Higher Education | Jillian Meyer, Indiana University Bloomington

[Panel Discussion] Sociopolitical Bias in Medical and Mental Healthcare: Emerging Threats to Patients and Practitioners | Andrew Hartz, Open Therapy Institute; Sally Satel, Yale University School of Medicine; Michael Strambler, Yale University School of Medicine; Moderated by: Dean McKay, Fordham University

[Workshop] What’s Emotion Got To Do With It? Critical Thinking AND Emotional Intelligence as Tools for Open Inquiry | Catherine Johnson, University of Wyoming; Whitney Graff, University of Chicago

[Panel Discussion] Persuading Universities to Take Free Expression Seriously | Laura Beltz, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression; Sean Stevens, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression; Nadine Strossen, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression; Moderated by: Nathan Honeycutt, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

[Symposium] The Uses (and Abuses) of Psychology in Academic Settings

• Post Traumatic Post Truth Disorder (PTPD): How the Politicized Appropriation of Traumatic Experiences Interferes with Open Inquiry | Lawrence Amsel, Columbia University
• Investigating the Impact of a Psychology-Based Online Educational Tool for Improving Constructive Dialogue in a University Classroom | Dane Mauer-Vakil, Institute for Multipartisan Education; Kelly Anthony, University of Waterloo
• Embracing Empowerment as a Theory to Reconceptualize Issues in School Psychology | Miriam Thompson, University of California, Santa Barbara

[Symposium] Freeing Science Amid Conflicting Value

• Breaking the Social Feedback Loops that Constrain Climate Science | Patrick Brown, The Breakthrough Institute
• Open Science and Social Responsiveness: Conflicting Values in Psychology | Benjamin Lovett, Teachers College, Columbia University
• Does Privileging Liberationist Sociology Constitute Pedagogical Malpractice | Anthony Haynor, Seton Hall University

[Symposium] The Skeptics’ Panel

• Sign Up or Get Out? How “The HxA Way” Undermines Open Inquiry and Viewpoint Diversity | Michael Veber, East Carolina University
• Kalven's Complicit Executioners: A Critique of the Kalven Committee Report | Irfan Khawaja, CorroHealth LLC
• Falsehood, Impotence, and Irresponsibility: How Perversion of Academic Freedom and Heterodoxy Enables Higher Education Faculty to Promote Health-Related Nonsense | William London, California State University, Los Angeles

[Workshop] Cultivating Pluralism in the Classroom | Mike Whitenton, Interfaith America

[Panel Discussion] How Should We Respond to the Cancelation of Sociology by the State of Florida? | Bradley Campbell, California State University, Los Angeles; Rosemary Hopcroft, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; Fabio Rojas, Indiana University; Moderated by: Jukka Savolaine, Wayne State University

[Symposium] The Intellectual Journey: Helping Students Learn to Think Like Scholars

• Inviting Undergraduates to the Scholarly Conversation | Craig Gibson, The Ohio State University
• Heterodox Pedagogy for Science Graduate Students | Geoff Horsman, Wilfrid Laurier University 
• Preparing for Practice: Fostering HxA Values in Today’s Cautious Students | Matt Recla, Boise State University

[Symposium] The Battle to Remove Political Intentions Off the Road to Scientific Truth: Three Physician Perspectives

• Truth in Crisis: The Silenced Resistance to School Closures During the COVID-19 Pandemic | Carol Vidal, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• From Politics to Truth: Leading the Charge for Scientific Integrity | David Atkinson, University of Texas Southwestern
• Power, Responsibility, and Truth: Increasing Open Expression Regarding Race and Gender in Medicine | Kristopher Kaliebe, University of South Florida
  

[Symposium] Interrogating DEI Presumptions and Practices

• Academic Freedom and the USE of DEI Criteria in Faculty Recruitment, Promotion, and Retention: Analyzing Some Recent Arguments | Thomas Adajian, James Madison University
• Meritocracy or Inclusion? Unpacking the Tensions and Missteps in DEI Practices in Academia and Beyond | Paolo Gaudiano, New York University
• Diversity for What? Interrogating Ten Rationales for Diversity in Faculty Hiring | Azim Shariff, University of British Columbia

[Workshop] Breaking the Fourth Wall: Improvisational Theater as a Catalyst for Authentic Academic Discourse | Ashley Pryor, University of Toledo

[Panel Discussion] Academic Freedom Without Responsibility? Social Justice in the Aftermath of the Flint Water Crisis | Siddhartha Roy, Rutgers University; Marc Edwards, Virginia Tech; Hernan Gomez, Hurley Medical Center and University of Michigan; Moderated by: Siddhartha Roy, Rutgers University

[Symposium] Cultivating Freer Speech on Campus

• Frameworks for Fostering Discourse: Implementing Free Speech Instruction in Different Contexts Across Campus | Matt Moreali, Southern Oregon University
• Willingness to Self-Censor: A Meta-Analysis | James Shanahan, Indiana University
• Campus Speech Behavior by Religious Identity and Observance | Shira Hoffer, Institute for Multipartisan Education

[Symposium] Academic Freedom Under Pressure: Strategic, Legal, and Institutional Responses

• Encoding Open Inquiry and Academic Freedom in a University Strategic Plan | Chris Younkin, Southern Utah University
• Universities, Faculty Unions, and States in the System of Academic Freedom | Mark Crawford, Athabasca University
• Faculty Associations Must Adhere to Their Purpose: A Lawsuit | Rachel Altman, Simon Fraser University; Alexandra Lysova, Simon Fraser University

[Symposium] Making Change: Live Possibilities in Hiring, Training, and Campus Policy

• Viewpoint Diversity and Law School Faculty Hiring | Byron Stier, Southwestern Law School
• Truth, Power, and Responsibility in the Training of Mental Health Practitioners | Annemarie Slobig, The Chicago School
• Promising the First Amendment: (De)Regulating Speech in Higher Education | Max Schanzenbach, Northwestern University; Kimberly Yuracko, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

[Workshop] When Conversations Go Wrong, What Do We Do? | Carla Silver, Leadership+Design; Diego Duran-Medina, Leadership+Design

[Panel Discussion] Creating a Student-Led Culture of Free Speech at Universities Nationwide | Aimee Guidera, Commonwealth of Virginia; Doug Sprei, American Council of Trustees and Alumni; Moderated by: Mary Kate Cary, University of Virginia

[Symposium] Professors Speak Out: The Truth About Campus
Investigations

• Weaponizing the Academic Bureaucracy | Lee Jussim, Rutgers University
• Stomp on Jesus: The True Story of What Happened | Deandre Poole, Florida Atlantic University
• US Academia and the Censoring of an Anti-Zionist Professor | Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Montclair State University (currently Visiting Professor, Princeton University)

[Symposium] Critical Perspectives on Education in Business, Criminal Justice, and Social Work

• Has Business Education on CSR Gone Too Far | Kimberlee Josephson, Lebanon Valley College
• Broadening Perspectives: The Need to Champion Viewpoint Diversity in Criminal Justice Education | Virginia Gleason, Seattle University
• Check Your Privilege: How Teaching a Critical Social Justice Understanding of Society in UK Social Work Education Stifles Professional and Intellectual Curiosity | Jane Fenton, University of Dundee

[Symposium] Engaging Across Divides: Civility, Authority, and Responsibility in Higher Education

• Don’t Do It, Jimmy: James Baldwin & the Duty to Engage | Nicholas Buccola, Claremont McKenna College
• Civil Discourse, Judgment, and Institutional Authority | Marie Newhouse, University of Surrey
• Antisemitism, Title VI, and the Need for Civil Discourse on College Campuses | Sonja Wentling, Concordia College

[Workshop] Curious Approaches to Difference and Disagreement in Educational Settings: The Institute for Multipartisan Education (IME) Way | Dane Mauer-Vakil, Institute for Multipartisan Education; Shira Hoffer, Institute for Multipartisan Education

[Panel Discussion] Positioning Anthropology for a Heterodox Academic Future | David Stoll, Middlebury College; Rachel Adler, University of Texas Health San Antonio; Michael Jindra, Boston University; Moderated by: Andrew Gardner, University of Puget Sound

[Symposium] Challenging the Challengers of Free Speech on Campus 

• From Mill to Marcuse? Responding to the 'Postliberal' Challenge to Academic Freedom | Jacob Williams, University of Oxford
• Responding to Campus Opponents of Free Speech | Aeon Skoble, Bridgewater State University 
• How Claims of Harm Erode Liberalism and Free Speech | Cassandra Sever, Mount Holyoke College

[Symposium] Pedagogical Tools for Meaningful Student Engagement in the Classroom

• Executing Campus-Wide Surveys as both a Climate Report and a Pedagogical Tool for College Students | Lindsay Hoffman, University of Delaware
• Using Behavior Analysis to Increase Student Engagement in the Classroom | Whitney Graff, University of Chicago
• Fostering Student Capacities for Civil Discourse: The Empirical Results of a Debate Across the Curriculum Program in Cultivating Intellectual Virtues and Decreasing Affective Polarization | Darrin Hicks, University of Denver & Steve Johnson, University of Denver

[Symposium] Tensions of Truth: Diversity, Open Science, and Gatekeeping in Peer Review

• Gatekeeping in Peer Review: Is Beneficial Knowledge Being Suppressed | Andrea Clements, East Tennessee State University
• AI, Campus Culture and Commoditized Peer Review | Daniel Coffing, Objectively.ai
• Does Diversity Increase Scientific Productivity? | Zachary Patterson, Concordia University Wisconsin