Jane Araf
speaker
1,797 appearances
216 recordings
2 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 6d ago
Jane Araf’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 190 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 39.
Appearances
And these are teachers, researchers, pastors, you know, regular Americans who are in our communities. And that was really, at least for me, really surprising to hear in the U.S.,
Yeah. I mean, the first thing we did was reach out to two First Amendment legal scholars who really both are seen as advocates for that amendment and for free speech, but they come from different perspectives. One is Lee Bollinger, and he's the former president of Columbia University, and we all know what's happening with Columbia University right now. They've had their funding threatened.
They've made major overhauls of their security and protester rules to try to comply with the Trump administration's guidance to get that funding back. And they also agreed to the Trump administration's demand that they appoint a provost to provide oversight now over departments that teach about the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. By the way, none of those areas of study are
are the ones that were getting the federal funding. And Bollinger is seen as one of the foremost scholars on the First Amendment and free speech in this country.
And then we also reached out to Jonathan Turley. He's another very respected legal scholar on the First Amendment. He's often on Fox News as a commentator. And he recently wrote a book called the indispensable right, free speech in an age of rage.
And they really had... different perspectives on when they have felt that speech is threatened in this modern time. So in Bollinger's view, the danger is clearly right now.
He talked about how there's a moment like every 20, 30 years where the First Amendment free speech is really threatened. And he says the U.S. is going in that direction now.
He argues it was actually the Biden administration that was anti-free speech. And he points to something we hear a lot from Republicans and Trump allies, that on social media, conservative voices were being censored. And they say there was collusion with the government to make sure these voices were shut out or sidelined in academia, on social media.
The other thing that Turley said is he sees Trump as a possible ally in free speech.
But he is still withholding judgment about where this administration will land on free speech.
So you heard there very different perspectives from Bollinger and Turley about when free speech has been threatened, under which administrations. But there was a topic where they really kind of agreed. And that is the topic that you mentioned, the students that we've seen on visas or green card holders who are being detained.
and possibly deported, having their visas revoked, over what it seems like is their choice to protest or express a point of view about the Gaza war.
And so if that's the case, if it really is about what they expressed, what their viewpoint is, that would be a violation of the First Amendment. So they're watching for that. So I should say the administration is saying, actually, the reason these students are
are having their visas revoked or possibly their green cards revoked is because the Secretary of State can do that if they deem someone's presence in this country a threat to U.S. foreign policy, a threat to national security. And the administration accuses many of them of being aligned with Hamas, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
These students have all denied being connected to Hamas. And none of them have been charged with a crime. And we keep hearing contradictory statements. And so we've tried to get clarity from the administration with some direct asks and so far haven't heard back.
Yeah. I mean, we spoke to college Republicans at UC Berkeley. And, you know, this is known as a very liberal campus. It has that reputation. And I spoke to Miguel Munez. He's a leader of the college Republicans at the university. And he described other students' reaction to their presence on campus as not exactly welcoming.
And he says nowadays they feel like, OK, it's shifting a little bit. They can go out. They can give out their flyers more openly. They still get harassed. They said it's not a sea change, but there's been a spike in enrollment in not just their club, but there's also been a spike at other campuses across California. And this is another student leader of the college Republicans, Martin Berteo.
I also spoke to members of another group that feel freer now, Moms for Liberty, which is an organization that describes itself as a parental rights organization. It's also been described by groups like Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups as extremist groups.
They push for things like book bannings, and most of the books that have been pushed to be banned are by authors of color or LGBTQ authors. They're also seen as anti-inclusion for students who are from more marginalized communities. These are all labels the group rejects. And I spoke to Tina Deskovich. She's a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, and she said...
There were multiple attacks on their organization during Biden's presidency, and that started on social media.
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