How can universities – including Harvard – create a climate where ideas can be discussed openly and constructively?
Our speakers will discuss efforts to promote free speech and viewpoint diversity, including through policies mandating institutional neutrality about public controversies that do not directly affect the university itself, such as the University of Chicago’s 1967 Kalven Report. Especially given their experience with statements in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, many other campuses (including Harvard) have considered adopting such policies.
This program is open to Harvard and Radcliffe College alumni/ae and is hosted by the Crimson Society, the community of all College alumni/ae who have celebrated their 50th Reunion. Learn more.
About Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb currently is handling selected complex litigation matters, advising public officials and Fortune 100 companies and executives in his practice at Ty Cobb, PLLC. Ty served in the government most recently as an Assistant to the President of the United States, serving as Special Counsel to the President from July 2017 until June 2018. Until July 2017, he was a partner for 29 years in the Washington, D.C. office of Hogan Lovells. He served on the firm's Executive Committee. Ty also chaired Hogan's practices involving white collar criminal litigation, DOJ and SEC enforcement matters (with an emphasis on cases involving insider trading and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), and Congressional investigations and hearings for over 20 years.
Ty, a former high ranking federal prosecutor, is a longstanding Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and is annually profiled in Best Lawyers in America, Who's Who in the World, International Who's Who of Business Crime Lawyers, Chambers, Legal 500 and Superlawyers, which did a special feature on him in 2015, “The Kansas Peach”.
In April of 2024, he was selected by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the 500 Most influential People making and shaping national policy. In 2020, he was inducted into the Lawdragon Hall of Fame, and Lawdragon Magazine again recognized him as one of the "500 Leading Lawyers in America". In 2018, Ty was selected as a “Lawdragon Legend”. In 2011, Ty was inducted into the Ethisphere Hall of Fame, which recognizes attorneys who have made lasting contributionsj to the advancement of corporate ethics and compliance. In addition to his legal work, Ty is a committed conservationist and long served on the Board of the Grand Canyon Trust which he chaired for several years. He is currently on the Board of the Kiawah Island Conservancy.
Before returning to public service at the White House in July 2017, Ty was frequently sought after as an advocate for and advisor to Fortune 100 public companies, special committees of boards of directors, audit committees, and senior executives in "bet the company" cases. His clients also have included prominent Cabinet members and other senior government officials of both parties. Ty's international enforcement, bribery, and corruption practice has taken him to more than 33 countries and 44 states. He regularly appears as a legal and political commentator on CNN, ABC, NPR, CBS, NBC and BBC. Historically he often appeared in the national media in the service of his clients. In his White House work, he addressed multiple daily media inquiries regarding the so called “Mueller investigation” into alleged Russian influence in the 2016 election. Finally, Ty is a huge promoter and fan of all things KANSAS, his beloved home state.
About Nadine Strossen
Nadine Strossen, the John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita at New York Law School and past President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008), is a Senior Fellow with FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education) and a leading expert and frequent speaker/media commentator on constitutional law and civil liberties, who has testified before Congress on multiple occasions. She serves on the advisory boards of the ACLU, Academic Freedom Alliance, Heterodox Academy, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the University of Austin.
The National Law Journal has named Strossen one of America’s "100 Most Influential Lawyers," and several other publications have named her one of the country’s most influential women. Her many honorary degrees and awards include the American Bar Association’s prestigious Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award (2017). In 2023, the National Coalition Against Censorship (an alliance of more than 50 national non-profit organizations) selected Strossen for its Judy Blume Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Speech.
When Strossen stepped down as ACLU President, three (ideologically diverse) Supreme Court Justices participated in her farewell/tribute luncheon: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, and David Souter.
She is the author of HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship (2018) and Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know® (2023). She is also the Host and Project Consultant for Free To Speak, a 3-hour documentary film series on free speech distributed on public television in 2023.
Her book Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights was named a New York Times “notable book” of 1995, and was republished in 2024 as part of the New York University Press “Classics” series. Her book HATE was selected as the “Common Read” by Washington University and Washburn University.
Strossen has made thousands of public presentations before diverse audiences around the world, including on more than 500 different campuses and in many foreign countries, and she has appeared on virtually every national TV news program. Her hundreds of publications have appeared in many scholarly and general interest publications.
Strossen graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Before becoming a law professor, she practiced law in Minneapolis (her hometown) and New York City. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.