TUNE IN LIVE: Senate, House host panels on FIRE issues [Updated]

Two major FIRE issues — free speech and due process on America’s campuses — will be the focus of congressional attention this morning.

Senate committee on free speech

At 10 am EDT, the full U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions will hold a hearing on “Exploring Free Speech on College Campuses.”

Witnesses include:

• Robert Zimmer, president of the University of Chicago,
• Nadine Strossen, New York Law School professor and former president of the ACLU,
• Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and
• Allison Stanger, the Middlebury College professor injured in a violent campus protest in March.

The hearing will livestream from the committee’s website.

WATCH THE LIVESTREAM HERE.

House Roundtable on Campus Sexual Assault

Then at 11 am EDT, FIRE’s Legislative and Policy Director Joe Cohn will testify at a roundtable discussion before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence, which is dedicated to “raising awareness and proposing solutions to the challenges posed by sexual assault.”

You may also still be able to grab a seat to see the talk in person, by RSVPing to NH02.RSVP@mail.house.gov.

The taskforce’s co-chair, Rep. Annie McLane Kuster, will also livestream the event from her facebook page.

WATCH THE LIVESTREAM HERE.

Joe will be joined by the following witnesses:

• Candice Jackson, acting assistant secretary for civil rights & deputy assistant secretary for strategic operations and outreach at the Department of Education,
• Anne Hedgepeth, interim vice president of public policy & government relations at the American Association of University Women (AAUW),
• Daniel Swinton, vice president of the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA),
• Jane Stapleton, executive director of practice at University of New Hampshire’s Prevention Innovations Research Center, and
• Amy Sánchez, CEO of Break the Cycle.

Congress’s attention to both free speech and sexual violence issues on campus is sorely needed. FIRE is glad that Congress will be exploring both issues this morning and we hope you will tune in.