Teach-in on Defending Freedom — with Kara Swisher, William M. Treanor, and Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. - Moderated by Ally Coll

With the help of a distinguished group of panelists, this event will examine recent attacks on the freedoms of universities, law firms, and media organizations by a Trump administration intent on imposing its will through executive orders, threats of legal action, and denial of government contracts and grants. All three of the panelists have been playing active roles in speaking out against recent administration initiatives.Universities are being pressured to change hiring, admission, and other policies to suit White House desires. Law firms harboring attorneys who have challenged Trump are being targeted. And publicly-supported news organizations like NPR, PBS, and Voice of America, as well as independent media companies like the Associated Press, are being denied funding or access.In addition to elaborating on these developments, panelists will discuss the importance of free expression as a pillar of American democracy and its protection under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. They also will suggest ways people can act on their concerns, speak truth to power, and participate in efforts to push back against the administration’s moves.Our panelists for this teach-in include:Kara Swisher is the host of the podcast On with Kara Swisher and the cohost of the Pivot podcast with Scott Galloway, both distributed by New York magazine. She was also the cofounder and editor-at-large of Recode, host of the Recode Decode podcast, and co-executive producer of the Code conference. She was a former contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and host of its Sway podcast and has also worked for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Swisher is the author of three books including Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, published in 2024.William M. Treanor is the Executive Vice President of Georgetown University, Dean of the Law Center, and Paul Regis Dean Leadership Chair. Since he took office in 2010, Treanor has helped transform Georgetown Law, expanding its faculty by 75 new tenure or tenure-track members; tripling the number of experiential offerings for students in clinical, externship, and practicum programs; more than doubling financial aid; and raising record sums for the Law Center, including a unprecedented $100 million for Tsai Hall, a new flagship building. Among his many honors, Treanor is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and was most recently awarded a Medal of Honor for Academic Merit by the World Jurist Association. Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. is a partner with Munger, Tolles & Olson, and the founder of its Washington, D.C., office. Mr. Verrilli is one of the nation’s premier Supreme Court and appellate advocates. He served as Solicitor General of the United States from June 2011 to June 2016. Since joining the firm after his government service, he has handled numerous significant cases in the United States Supreme Court, including his successful defense of the constitutionality of the federal law establishing the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in Financial Oversight and Management Board v. Aurelius.This event will be moderated by Ally Coll, an Assistant Professor of Law at the City University of New York (CUNY), where she teaches courses about constitutional separation of powers, the modern administrative state, and the federal courts system. She was previously a litigator in private practice and spent time on Capitol Hill as an aide in both the U.S. House and Senate. Coll received her law degree from Harvard Law School and her B.A. in History and Political Science from Tulane University.