All language subtitles for Storyville.S2026E10.The.Pendulum.Swings.1080p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

We're asking that there be
no restrictions

on the contents of speech,

and that's an enormous
amount of freedom.

I'm confident that the students
will exercise their freedom

with the same responsibility they've
shown in winning their freedom.

APPLAUSE

Yeah! Fuck free speech, bitches!

♪ School's out for summer... ♪

You need to get out.

You are being racist.
You are being offensive.

Some of the words
now forbidden at Stanford.

There has been a flurry
of loud and angry debate

about what can be said
and what ideas can be expressed.

I want you to be offended
every single day on this campus...

...and then you'll learn
how to speak back.

Charlie Kirk
drew an enthusiastic crowd.

Charlie Kirk was shot
on a college campus.

I've been saying we need to
bring back political assassinations.

I don't feel bad.

And I don't think that everyone
deserves the right to free speech.

Fuck you!

You're a fucking Nazi.

Get the fuck off campus!

-
- No fascist USA!

The time has come to reclaim our
once great educational institutions

from the radical Left.

The government's response
to this problem has been Orwellian.

Donald Trump is trying
to silence academic freedom.

I will sign an executive order
to begin eliminating

the Federal Department of Education.

♪ School's out completely! ♪

When I started this film,

the loudest coverage of campus
stories came from one direction.

Time now to look at some of the
craziness on our nation's campuses.

It's clear the far-left
only wants their voice heard.

Poison Ivy takes a deep dive into
the wokeness of Ivy League schools.

People told me these blow-ups
were just conservative spin -

clickbait, manufactured outrage

and, sure, right-wing media
feasts on this stuff.

They love it.

But what I saw wasn't
a few isolated incidents.

It was a pattern,

targeting real people,

damaging reputations,

destroying careers,

ruining lives.

And as these stories piled up,

you could feel
the pressure building -

the pendulum picking up speed.

Because ideas that start on campus
don't stay there.

They migrate outward

into bureaucracy, politics and law.

Can you provide a definition
for the word "woman"?

- I can't.
- You can't?

Not in this context.

I'm not a biologist.

The question now being asked
in the halls of power

had been taking shape on campus
for years.

And that's where this part of
the story begins -

with gender and sex.

♪ Let's talk about sex, baby

♪ Let's talk about you and me... ♪

I think what really focused
my interest

on trying to understand
the evolutionary

and hormonal sources of
sex differences in humans

was my experience out in Uganda
studying chimpanzees,

because it was just so clear,

watching the chimps every day
and being with them every day,

the sex differences they showed

and the high levels of aggression
in the males

and their sort of obsession
with sex and status,

that has obvious parallels
to what we see in humans.

So that's really
what sparked my interest.

♪ Let's talk about sex... ♪

In the human evolutionary
biology department,

I got students from
all different majors,

but I especially had students
from Women, Gender and Sexuality -

a course that
really challenged the idea

that sex differences
have anything to do with

evolution or biology at all.

You know, the idea is that they're
cultural and it's the patriarchy,

and I always appreciated
their input.

But what started to happen

is I noticed people were becoming
much more sensitive

about the language

and offended by my use of accurate
and clear scientific terms.

I had been quoted in an article,

and it was an investigation of
what's happening in medical schools,

where medical school professors
were backing away

from using terms like "pregnant
women", and "male" and "female",

in response to pressure
from medical school students.

One med student in California

claiming her classmates
shame and police professors

for "wrong speak" -

for using words like - hold your
ears - "male" and "female".

And I commented
in the article saying,

you know, these are
our future doctors.

We should really just be sticking
to teaching them about medicine

and using whatever language
we need to.

So, Fox and Friends asked me
to comment on that.

The ideology seems to be that
biology really isn't as important

as how somebody feels about
themselves or feels their sex to be.

This kind of ideology
has been infiltrating science.

Sex is a biological category.

It's a reproductive category.

It is at the centre of what I do -

my area of expertise,
all of my research, right?

Do we make eggs, you know,
big sex cells,

or little sex cells - sperm?

And that's how we know whether
somebody is male or female.

What's powerful and interesting
about that is that's it -

there are no other traits
that uniformly,

discretely, cleanly,
differentiate males and females.

And then I said,
as a fact of nature,

it really has no implications
for who we are as humans

in terms of our gender identity.

You know, we can treat people
with respect

and respect their gender identities

and, you know,
use their preferred pronouns...

It's really just about the gametes.

And then sort of everything else
is on a spectrum.

It's very confusing when professors
like me, or lecturers like me,

start backing away from
certain terms

that they're afraid people
will find offensive.

And...

...I'll just say all hell broke loose
after that interview.

"As the Director of the Diversity
and Inclusion Taskforce

"for my department at
Harvard Evolutionary Biology,

"I am appalled and frustrated
by the transphobic

"and harmful remarks made by
a member of my department

"in this interview
with Fox and Friends."

So, I felt very panicked
that the director

of our DEI committee
went on to Twitter,

and this went out all over
the, you know, Twitterverse, right?

"You are actually implicitly denying

"that trans men
are men who can get pregnant."

And I felt...

...like the ground shake under me.

I mean, this was... I was scared.

Suddenly I'm transphobic and
I'm called transphobic by someone

who looks like they're speaking
on behalf of Harvard.

So I retweeted her tweet

and I wrote something like,
"I appreciate your concerns.

"Could you let me and
the Twitterverse know exactly

"what I said that
you consider transphobic

"or harmful to undergrads?

"I think you know that I care deeply
about all of my students,

"and I also care about science."

Her reply -

"It is transphobic to imply

"that gender inclusive language
limits medical education."

"Quite the contrary.

"It expands education
to match our human reality."

So what happened from there

was mostly she was dumped on
for attacking me.

And the narrative that developed
was that I retweeted her tweet,

which was taken
as an aggressive move on my part,

where I was punching down to use
my power to harm her, essentially.

This was big gossip and news
at Harvard.

My reputation now was trashed.

And it was picked up by newspapers
from Australia to the UK,

in the States. It got a huge amount
of coverage.

And now I'm just this transphobe
at Harvard

because I said something
which should not be controversial

in an evolutionary
biology department,

to say that there are two sexes.

I grew up with the same idea
that there were only two sexes.

You know, the stuff you learned
in biology class.

This one has a penis. It's a boy!

This one has a vulva.
It's a girl!

Over time, the conversation shifted.

In the '80s and '90s, gender studies
separated sex - the biological -

and gender - how you live, act
and identify in the world.

The way your body looks on the
outside is only part of the story.

THEY GASP

Then came queer theory

and it blew up the whole idea
of fixed categories.

Online, that vocabulary exploded.

For many who didn't fit
the old categories,

it was liberating.

Finally, words that fit their lives.

Then the argument moved again
from gender back to biology.

Some biologists now argue

that biological sex
isn't a clean binary either -

that anatomy, chromosomes
and hormones vary.

Sex is a spectrum.

The more you look,
the more complex it gets.

Binary is bullshit.

Some push it even further, saying
there are up to four or five sexes.

To many, that's a bridge too far.

What the hell is wrong with you?!

It's a threat to medicine, sports,
safety and law.

And the debate isn't just academic.

It's moved into politics,
media and the streets.

- Out of the closet!
-
- Into the streets!

♪ Woman hear me roar

♪ In numbers too big to ignore

♪ And I know too much
to go back and pretend... ♪

SHOUTING

Kathleen Stock
has attracted protests

over her views
on gender identification.

She is a professor of philosophy
at Sussex University...

...who's been accused
of being transphobic.

Kathleen Stock
doesn't believe it's possible

for a person to change
their biological sex.

...that a trans woman isn't a woman.

A trans woman is a trans woman.

Kathleen Stock drew me to the UK

because she was another professor
being shut out from campuses

with accusations of transphobia.

Every time I was announced
as a speaker

at a different institution,
there would be a protest

and there'd be some kind of attempt
to stop the event.

♪ I am invincible... ♪

She is a married lesbian professor,

and all she states is that women's
spaces should be women's spaces.

It just became extremely difficult

cos they would have to get in
extra security at my talks.

Students at the University of Oxford

have demanded that
the feminist academic Kathleen Stock

be no-platformed
from its debating society...

Free speech
is now actually problematic,

and if you try
and defend free speech,

well, what kind of sinister opinions
are you really arguing for?

Protect trans people!

We don't think
she should speak here,

because her views are part of
a broader hate campaign

and moral panic that's really
damaging the lives of trans people.

-
- We're fighting for our lives!

Amongst those protestors
was Riz Possnett,

who silently glued their hand
to the floor.

♪ I am woman

♪ I am a woman... ♪

When it comes to, like, what should
be protected as free speech,

everyone draws their line
somewhere, right?

The reason that I felt
that Kathleen Stock surpassed that

is because I think she plays
such an integral part

to the way in which transphobia
in the UK

has massively risen
over the past few years.

Kathleen became a flash point
in the UK,

a philosopher asking
difficult questions about law,

gender and identity,

at a time when many believe
those questions caused harm.

I was mostly interested
in intervening in a political arena

because in the UK at the time,

we already had laws which allowed
people to change their legal sex,

but they had certain safeguards
built into the process.

Like, you needed two doctors to give
you a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

You needed to live
as the opposite sex for a year.

In 2018, most of
the political parties

were in favour of this new policy
called Self-ID.

Basically, if you identify
as the opposite sex,

you should be able
to change your sex legally.

And, whether or not
you've changed your sex legally,

you should also be able to access
whatever spaces and resources

are traditionally connected
to the opposite sex.

No hormones! No lipstick!
No going under the knife!

You even get to keep your nuts!

It's easy peasy.

Go online - click, click, click.

Now I'm a bird.

Much of the opposition to the
introduction of Self-ID in the UK

was about this idea that it was
getting rid of all of these things

that made sure people
were actually trans,

and actually, anyone could
walk in and say,

"I'm a penguin
and you have to recognise me now."

In reality, the processes you had
to go through in the UK

in order to have
your gender identity recognised

without Self-ID
were deeply pathologizing.

It's contributing to this idea
that transness, or gender dysphoria,

is like some sort of
mental disorder, right?

A, you can't trust them,

and B, you have to diagnose them
in some sense.

I started writing blog posts
and I just raised a few questions -

"There's this law change
that's being proposed.

"Don't you think we should be
talking about it?

"Do you think we should question
whether trans women are women?"

I didn't say either way,
but I said I'm a philosopher.

I've trained for this -
I've got the arguments.

There are no voices that I can see

coming out of philosophy departments
saying "There's some problems here."

There was plenty of voices
coming out of philosophy departments

saying, "This is brilliant."
You know?

"Trans women are women.
Get over it."

I think the reason that I find it
harmful in this sense to say,

"Trans women are not women,
they are trans women",

is it creates a subcategory.

It, like,
literally segregates them out.

Not being recognised
with the right identity

so they can't get
bank accounts properly,

they can't register for housing,

they can't get rents,
they can't get mortgages,

all of these things, because they're
not recognised within the system -

that is a massive component
of the reasons

that trans people face
so much discrimination

and so much transphobia
in their lives.

The set of ideas that were
being pushed that I rejected

was the idea that everyone's
got a gender identity -

it's a feeling inside you, basically.

A male - a biological male
who has penis, testicles,

you know, the usual,

can strongly feel
that they are female,

or that they want to be female,

or that they should be female
or something,

and that's their female
gender identity.

Only you can know
your gender identity.

No-one else can tell you what it is,

and as soon as it emerges,

as soon as you express it,

you have to be affirmed.

What's the real world impact?

Well, there's sports -

there's fairly obvious consequences.

Letting you on the sports team
that fits with your gender identity.

Also, more importantly,

you have to say, "Yes, come into
the ladies' changing rooms.

"Come into the rape crisis shelter.

"Come into
the domestic violence shelter.

"You're a woman now."

There are women in
domestic violence shelters

being forced to share a dormitory
with a male who says he's a woman,

because the policy of the shelter
is that he is a woman,

and if you complain, you're
transphobic and you need to leave.

We've got issues,

ethical issues, at least
to be explored.

Even if you think I'm wrong,
you know,

you would think, "Well,
we should maybe talk about this."

But we were also being told,
"No debate."

As soon as you raise any problems
about this, you are transphobic.

-
- Trans rights now!

I get why this subject
is so charged.

It's deeply personal -
about people's lives,

bodies, their sense of who they are.

Trans people aren't going anywhere!

But I thought universities existed
to test ideas,

even uncomfortable ones.

And when questioning ideas
becomes off limits,

what happens to the pursuit
of truth?

At Harvard, I felt so lucky
to be at a place

that valued veritas - truth -
more than anything.

Veritas, which is inscribed in stone
all over the campus

and in the shield.

So, when things started to change,

that value - veritas -

started to somehow be overshadowed

by the messages coming through
the growing DEI infrastructure,

not only down from
the administration,

but also up
from a lot of the students.

Then we started to get messages
about how important it is

to protect people from offence.

This idea to keep our students safe
and that ideas can harm,

and that knowledge itself
can be harmful.

And so, according to the director
of our DEI committee,

not only was I transphobic

because I said
that sex is not a belief,

it's a physical property
of your body,

but she was saying
it's specifically harmful

to the students in our department.

What is ironic

is that I was that person
who sort of made the department

feel like home and safe, you know,
for our students,

because they would come to me
often when

going through problems associated
with things like gender identity.

Dr Hooven is
an incredible professor.

At the heart of her love
for endocrinology

is so clearly her care
for the wellbeing of people

with all kinds of differences -
in sex development,

gender identities and sexualities.

I don't know what to say
outside the fact

that Carole was one of
the only professors I've had

who genuinely cared about...

...what I'm going to do in the world
and wanted more than anything...

Sorry.

...and wanted more than anything
to teach us about the world

and ourselves and... to make us
better off.

I had assumed,

"Of course the administration is
going to have my back and protect me

"and my right to make statements
about my area of expertise."

That was so stupid and naive of me.

Instead, my department chair

and the chair of
the other biology department

wrote a letter with
a team of administrators,

including a DEI person,
that I begged not to be sent out.

"Dear colleagues,
science has always created conflicts

"with people's social,
political and religious views.

"At its best,
science has pushed against..."

"..ancient orthodoxies
to open broader vistas

"on our place in nature
and in the universe."

SHE MOCK GAGS

OK. "Recently, tensions have
increased within our community

"and in some cases shifted
to an important discussion

"about the intersection of science,
communication and language use.

"In our role as chairs,
we should always strive

"to be responsive
to the varied concerns..."

"..but must also balance the needs
of the entire community

"and our shared values
of open dialogue."

That sentence right there
is anti-academic freedom.

It's saying that,

OK, you might have your views,
but you've got to consider

how they're going to land on people

in a way that should...
Maybe you shouldn't express them.

It was not the intent of
the committee

to cause damage
to Dr Hooven's reputation.

It wasn't our intent to, like, fuck
her over for the rest of her life.

We simply wanted to point out

that she shouldn't have said
what she said,

because it might have hurt others.

"We apologise"!

That email was sent out,
which only made things worse for me.

I literally was walking around
with my head down.

I was afraid
that people would recognise me

and think that I am that transphobe
or something.

I felt totally isolated.

I felt so betrayed and let down

and just disoriented.

And ultimately I was unable to teach
my course in the spring

because no graduate student would
agree to be my teaching assistant,

and I lost the...

Any hope for being able
to ever do my job

the way that I knew
I needed to do it,

which is to tell the truth,

and I knew that what had happened
to me was scaring other people -

other faculty members -

and they started modifying
what they taught and researched

in response to these fears
about how students would react.

And I know that
because they told me.

No individual felt
that it was worth it to them

to be the one to go out on a limb
and stand up for somebody like me.

Ultimately, I ended up getting a
lawyer and negotiated a retirement.

So... It's so hard.
It's hard every day

cos they're still right there.

Academic freedom might be

held up as a value
that Harvard supports,

but in reality, in practice,

we do not have true
academic freedom.

We don't have
a culture of free speech.

And that is because people know
what can happen to their reputation

and their livelihood
if they express the wrong view.

"Stock is desperate for attention.

"Independently of her transphobia,

"she has always
been a mediocre philosopher."

The first kind of pushback
came from within philosophy.

Some extremely aggressive pushback
that compared me to racists

and said that I was basically
a bit like

someone committing
indigenous genocide.

These were from
philosophers, professors,

and everyone - like, like, like,
tweet, tweet, tweet,

read this, you know,
repost, repost, repost.

So it just was spreading around.

I was like...

"But hang on...!" You know?

I had not got the capacity
I thought to fight that.

So a new post would come out,
I'd read it,

I'd sort of go into some kind of
catatonic depression.

I would lie on the floor,
like, crying my eyes out,

and then about 3.00 in the morning,
I would wake up

and go and write a response
to that blog post,

and I would fire off, like,
rebuttal, rebuttal, rebuttal.

Every point I would rebut,
press send,

and I would feel relieved,
like I'd fought back.

And then the next one
would come out.

So that went on for a few months

where I just basically felt
like I was under siege.

This mass character assassination
was going on.

So it was just like a free-for-all,
basically on campus... on my campus,

in my department.

People I knew, you know,
people I had hung out with...

...were liking and retweeting
all these things.

It was quite a... Quite a bad time.

That was probably the worst time,

cos I felt like philosophy
was... my home and my community.

Turns out it wasn't.

I had a lecture.

It was 9.00 in the morning
and I was walking down the tunnel.

It's like the main thoroughfare
into the campus,

and along every bit of this tunnel

were these big posters saying
"Fire Kathleen Stock.

"Kathleen Stock is a transphobe.

"We're not paying our fees
to be taught by a transphobe."

And then things obviously
escalated and escalated.

Then these protests happened.

-
- Kathleen Stock
is a transphobe!

Kathleen Stock is a transphobe!

Kathleen Stock is...

- Stock out!
- Stock out!
- Stock out!

They were letting off flares.
There was graffiti.

And from then on, they said they
were basically going to come back

every day... until I left.

One thing I couldn't believe

is that my colleagues
in the philosophy department

just all acted
like it wasn't happening.

And I just thought,

perhaps they'll put out
a statement in defence of me,

just even my academic freedom to do
as I've done.

So I wrote and said, you know,
"There are masked men on campus

"with posters saying that
they want to get me fired or sacked.

"What more do you need to put out
a statement in my support?"

And they never answered.

So...

...nobody answered.

I'm not transphobic and they...

It's just...

Sometimes just the wall of
misrepresentation just comes at you.

It was just like I was...

Sorry.

Sorry.

I don't want to cry on camera.

Anyway. It's fine.

It was like I was a contaminant.

So it felt.

And I just thought,
"I don't want to be here any more."

So I resigned, basically.

So...

Kathleen Stock is not going to be

coming back to the University
of Sussex as a professor.

Good fucking riddance.

This is a monumental victory
for trans and nonbinary students,

who have protested the ways
that this university

has enabled transphobia,
abuse and discrimination.

Fuck the national press media,

who happily collaborated
with the university and Stock

to turn this into a debate about
free speech and academic freedoms.

This has been a campaign
to get Stock out of Sussex,

and it fucking worked.

We acted as a community built
on solidarity and love.

And that's fucking powerful.

"Trans resistance
will always overcome.

"United. Never to be defeated."

Obviously, this all had a tremendous
effect on me psychologically.

But I do think people should know
the cost

that people face now, truly,
for just saying how they feel

or what their view is.

I questioned my existence,
my very existence,

and I've talked to a lot of people
who've experienced the same thing,

when you are socially ostracised

and when the kind of rug
is pulled out from under you,

and that is suicidal ideation.

I talked about suicide so much.

But... in front of my kid,

and I feel awful about that.

But I was...

I had to talk about it
cos it's all I could...

I thought about it constantly

and I wanted it to stop,

and I couldn't make it stop.

And I thought very hard
about meaning in life,

and what gives me more meaning now
is, like, talking about

the issues I'm talking about

and things have really crystallised,

because I didn't really know
how important free speech was to me.

I didn't really get what was
so great about democracy before,

and I never just paid
that much attention to it.

But I now really firmly believe

that each individual kid
is so important,

and all of their views
are so important

in learning and challenging
each other,

and that we should
respect everybody's different

perspectives and experiences.

And if we don't have free speech,
we don't have that,

and that's robbing individuals
of their right to be heard and seen.

Just cut it.

Watching what happened to Carole,
Kathleen and all the others I met,

I kept waiting for institutions
to defend their free speech,

even a little.

Mostly, they didn't.

And as more people went quiet
out of fear,

the silence created a vacuum,

one conservative politicians
were quick to exploit.

And their first stop was Florida.

Somehow, it's always Florida.

New College of Florida was founded
in the civil rights era

with a mission -

to become an institution
inclusive of students,

regardless of race, religion,
national origin, or cultural status.

♪ Welcome to America

♪ Where everything is made in China

♪ Where a girl can have a penis
and the boys can have vaginas

♪ Welcome to the home of the woke
We're going broke

♪ You'll get cancelled for
a joke by folks who voted for Joe

♪ Welcome to the Democratic USA

♪ You're homophobic and racist
if you ain't black or gay

♪ Where the Stars and the Stripes,
they go up in flames

♪ But every classroom in the country
has a rainbow flag... ♪

Now, despite that history,
or maybe because of it,

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
has targeted the public

liberal arts honours college
as part of his "war on wokeism".

Florida is where woke goes to die!

♪ You ain't gonna shut me up

♪ I'll be saying what I want
at the top of my lungs

♪ You ain't gonna shut me up

♪ You gonna hear what I say
till I'm six feet deep

♪ You ain't gonna shut me up

♪ You can hate all you want,
I got freedom of speech

♪ And you ain't gonna shut me up! ♪

I heard about
a government-led shake-up

at a small liberal arts college
in Florida.

We have witnessed harrowing
incursions on academic freedom.

Focused on academic excellence

and not the imposition
of trendy ideologies.

When DeSantis took over the board
of trustees at New College,

he installed loyalists
like Christopher Rufo.

Rufo, who is vowing
to remove focuses

on race and gender
from the school's DNA.

Known for its quirky,
progressive culture,

New College suddenly became the new
front line in America's culture war.

New College is coming out
on a united front

because we love our school.

New College has a culture problem.

The three phrases that
most describe the culture here -

"politically correct",

"druggies",

"weirdos".

I think New College has a reputation
as a leftist bastion.

A majority of our students
have identified as LGBTQIA,

and we do have
a fairly large percentage

of trans students on campus.

Unfortunately, New College's...

...comfort in being a place where

students who didn't fit in
could fit in

has led to this situation where we
seemed like we were the easy target.

Political leaders abdicated
their responsibility.

They delegated power
to left-wing activists,

academics and administrators.

They gave them the keys
and they ran the car into the ditch.

Meet Christopher Rufo,

the right's greatest
anti-anti-racist weapon.

In 2020,
as social justice initiatives

spread across institutions,

Rufo cast them as a threat

and identified critical race theory
as the cause.

It's absolutely astonishing

how critical race theory
has pervaded every institution

in the federal government.

Critical race theory, or CRT,

is a theory taught in law schools

that says racism
isn't just individual prejudice,

it's also systemic -
built into laws and institutions.

The problem isn't in the people.
The problem is in the institutions.

But Rufo wasn't interested
in the legal definition.

During Trump's first term,

he appeared on Fox with a message
for the president.

"CRT is a Marxist ideology
threatening to destroy America..."

And I call on the president
to immediately issue

this executive order
and stamp out this destructive,

divisive, pseudoscientific ideology
at its root.

The next morning, the president's
chief of staff gave me a call

and said, "Hey, the president
watched you on Tucker.

"He agrees with you.

"He's instructed me to design
an executive order

"abolishing CRT from the federal
government. Can you help?"

President Trump
signed an executive order

to crack down on so-called
critical race theory.

So that's really
when the CRT movement

went from some reporting
I was doing,

some activism, some policy work,

to, you know, a national spectacle.

By branding all kinds of DEI
initiatives as critical race theory,

Rufo turned an academic theory
into a political weapon.

And the thing is, it fucking worked!

CRT - or crucially,
Rufo's definition of it -

was suddenly absolutely everywhere.

Within months, Republican-led states
weren't just banning CRT,

they were scrapping DEI trainings,
rewriting curricula

and eliminating mandatory
diversity statements,

and Rufo became the go-to strategist

for turning culture war outrage
into policy.

That caught the attention of
Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis...

We are also going to eliminate
all DEI and CRT bureaucracies.

...handing Rufo something
even more potent -

the machinery of state power.

Rufo and his conservative cohort
now have the power

to make immediate change...

Good morning. Today is a big day

in the history of
New College of Florida.

The trustees are meeting
in Sarasota.

I'll be joining them virtually.

Our task today is to select a
permanent president for the college.

...and their first order of business
was to fire New College's president.

- All in favour?
- Let her finish.
- Please...

- Let's let her finish.
- Please.

I do not believe that students are
being indoctrinated at New College.

♪ Hit the road, Jack

♪ And don't you come back no more,
no more... ♪

So this is the part of the meeting
where we have

a call for public comment...

I would like to remind all of us

that we are in a time that requires
a specific type of character.

One minute for each comment.

I am here to object to
the appointment of Richard Corcoran.

Corcoran banned books, distorted
history, including black history,

and attacked LGBTQ+ students.

He has demonstrated the unique
kind of character that we need.

Making our students feel unsafe,

vilifying diversity, equity
and inclusion,

repressing free speech
and academic freedom,

making me lose sleep every night.

Under Richard Corcoran's leadership,

we've engaged in this ambitious,
difficult and challenging process,

reinvigorating the institution.

What you're doing here
is not about education.

This is political theatre.

And this requires a character
that has strength...

I hold you responsible
for using college students

as political pawns
and unwilling subjects

in your great
educational experiment.

...that is willing to radically
shake up an institution.

So you can be a bull
in a China shop,

Corcoran, shattering
academic freedom.

Your time is up.

It's the most draconian attack
on academic freedom in the nation!

Richard Corcoran
has earned my confidence,

and for that reason,
I'll be supporting him

as the permanent president
of New College of Florida.

Richard Corcoran has a majority,

so Richard Corcoran will be the new
president of New College of Florida.

Finally, I want
to publicly shame our president,

who has shown nothing but apathy
and disregard for our student body,

our traditions, and to remind him

that he is not welcome
or wanted on this campus.

Fuck you, Richard Corcoran!

CHEERING

Please... Please have him removed.

You're out.

Officer, please take him out.

This is not a hostile takeover.

This is like, let's get back
to what was so wonderful.

It's clear as day

that the church that founded us
wanted to create a wonderful,

great free speech, civil discourse,

classical liberal arts institution.

Activist professors and
administrators say very explicitly,

"We want to turn the university
into a recruiting ground

"for partisan activists,
to join the cause for BLM,

"or for trans activism,

"to participate in violent protests,

"to push, you know, pseudoscientific
and pseudo-academic disciplines

"like gender studies
as a great truth."

And this is really the first attempt
in American history

for conservatives
to fight back against this process

and demand that
the institution reflects

the political will
of the people of Florida.

One of the items that I discussed
today with Governor DeSantis

and with legislators present

is that diversity, equity and
inclusion, which sounds great,

but in practice divides people

and offers separate judgments on
the basis of race and identity...

BOOING

My opinion does matter, actually,
unfortunately for you.

Could I ask the audience
to please offer...

My profession
has always been around diversity,

equity and inclusion work.

I've been working in
higher education for over 14 years,

creating an inclusive
campus environment

and enriching experiences
through programmes

and events and partnerships
that we can cultivate.

It's a dead end job
for a dead end ideology

that attracts dead end people.

What I'm trying to do
is create a more positive

and welcoming community,

where everyone feels like
they're being valued

and that they can be who they are
without judgment.

We became the first
public university

in the United States
to abolish its DEI department.

We fired the DEI director,

and it's been a smashing success.

You have a due diligence
as a board of trustees

to protect the institution
and those who are attending it.

How are you going to support them?

How are they going to feel like
they're a part of the institution

when you erase everybody of colour
from your executive team?

If we look at the board of trustees,

if we're looking at
who the leadership is now

at the table at New College,
what do they look like?

And that's divisiveness, not DEI.

I don't call it a culture war.

What do you call it?

I call it...

...white nationalism.

I call it racism.

I call it political erasure.

The changes at New College
move fast.

And it didn't start with textbooks.

Students had already been doing work
to get more bathrooms on campus

labelled as gender neutral
or unisex.

One of the things
that the new administration did

not long after they arrived

was literally rip the signs
off the wall.

Like, there were pictures of, like,

the paint missing
where the sign used to be.

♪ Hit the road, Jack

♪ And don't you come back

♪ No more, no more
no, no, no more

♪ Hit the road, Jack... ♪

At the same time, a very cruel slate

of anti-trans bills went into effect
in Florida.

And one of them said that
trans people must use the bathroom

that matches their sex
assigned at birth.

♪ Oh, hit the road, Jack. ♪

So, the bathroom
that I've been using

in my workplace
for the last five years,

legally, I'm not supposed to use
that bathroom any more,

even though all of my legal
documentation lists me as male.

♪ Hit the road... ♪

If you believe
that a man can become a woman,

or if you believe
that a man can get pregnant

and give birth to a child,

what you're saying
is simply not true.

And if you're saying something
so obviously untrue,

that could be easily debunked
by anyone

over the age of maybe three or four,

you do not merit a place
in a scholarly institution.

I feel like the assumption
that's underneath that

is, like, if queer people
have a place

where they can be happy,
something is wrong.

We have not only the right,
but we have the obligation to say,

"I will not participate in this."

And that's why, for example,
I don't use they/them pronouns,

or ze/zir pronouns much less.

I'm currently under

a Department of Education
Civil Rights investigation,

following a complaint that
I did not use ze/zir pronouns

for the New College
of Florida's DEI director.

And I met her briefly
when I first became a trustee.

- Erm...
- You met zir.

I met... I met...

Yoleidy Rosario-Hernandez.

She was very sweet.

She was very nice.

I had a nice, er,
pleasant engagement with her.

- And people say, well...
- You just misgendered.
- Misgendered?

- Yeah. Misgendered, yeah.
- You just misgendered zir again.

A synonym for misgendering
is accurate sexing.

When we're looking at pronouns,
right,

it's very subjective to the person,

and for me and who I am and
what rings great to me is ze/zir,

as someone who identifies
as trans fluid

and has a really great adoration

for both feminine
and masculine energies, right?

As well as gender neutral energies.

I'm not going to use
ze/zir pronouns.

And you could say, well,
that's unnecessarily aggressive,

or that's, you know, not being kind,
nice, respectful,

empathetic, you know,

whatever therapeutic word
you want to insert there.

The reason I'm doing that
is because I want

New College of Florida
to be the kind of institution

that will not buckle to fads,
trends, ideologies.

And so we became
the first public university

in the United States to abolish
its gender studies programme.

And we did so unapologetically

because it was
the right thing to do.

Gender studies has been
a firm part of the mainstream

of American academics for 50 years.

This is not some fly-by-night
pseudo-discipline.

This is an interdisciplinary
area of study.

It combines science, social sciences
and humanities,

and it is recognised as central
to the American liberal arts.

In May, DeSantis visited New College

to sign three controversial
education bills.

Florida's new bills spelled out
what could and couldn't be taught.

Suddenly, it was conservatives
wanting safe spaces

from ideas they found harmful
and writing them into law.

Some of these niche subjects
like critical race theory,

other types of DEI-infused
courses and majors,

Florida's getting out of that game.

If you want to do things
like... gender ideology...

...go to Berkeley. Go to some of
these other places, that's fine!

APPLAUSE

Next to Governor DeSantis
was Christopher Rufo,

a conservative activist.

So when we arrived,

this was interpreted
by the kind of activists on campus

as a great affront.

-
- We are going to win
this fight!

All of this shows Ron DeSantis
who New College is,

and why we care about
what we care about.

I think we're louder in here
than they are out there.

All right.

And it was Trustee Rufo
who decided that,

instead of leaving campus
peacefully,

he was going to walk through
the crowd of protesters,

clearly as a stunt
and a way to provoke us.

This is a student
who is very excitable,

very passionate, very dedicated,

but she took it way over the line.

She was screaming at us...

..."Suck my tranny dick",
which was very artful

and anatomically incorrect,
as we found out.

I approached him, and as a form
of protest to show my disgust,

I spat towards the ground.

And it is alleged
that some of that spittle

may have landed on the toe
of Christopher Rufo's shoe.

She spat on me.

And, I mean, that's gross, right?

It's unsanitary,
it's disrespectful.

You know, this is kind of
protest politics. It happens.

It's not necessarily
the end of the world,

but one of the officers called me

and said, "Hey, look.
This is a crime.

"This is a first degree battery.

"This is a violent crime
under Florida law."

And when students cross that line

from free speech
to illegal violence,

there have to be consequences.

So, a deal was struck.

Rufo told my lawyer that
he would have the charges dropped

if I were to,
and this is how he put it,

"Leave and never come back."

Which...

...was devastating.

That, to me, was an adequate
resolution that established

a standard of civil discourse

but allowed this young woman
to go on with her life

and be successful elsewhere.

I was removed from campus as a form
of political retaliation...

...and it didn't stop with me.

We're going to create a foothold
at New College.

We're going to inspire
the next generation of academics,

the next generation of citizens,

and the next generation
of legislators,

who will look at this little,
small university on the beach

in Sarasota, Florida,
as the blueprint, as the model,

as something to be pursued,
not just in Florida but everywhere.

Well, there you go.

Rufo had laid out the battle plan
in detail -

abolish DEI,
reshape the curriculum

and use higher education
as a political weapon.

In the lead-up
to the 2024 election,

Trump was campaigning
with the same promise.

We're going to smash
the Marxist

diversity, equity and inclusion
bureaucracies.

I will also take historic action
to defeat

the toxic poison of gender ideology.

And this was where my film
was supposed to end, with a warning.

The campus culture war
had come full circle

and opened the door
to a hostile takeover...

The days of subsidising communist
indoctrination in our colleges

will soon be over.

...not with reform,
but with blunt force intervention

that didn't distinguish between
what was broken and what wasn't.

And then came a shock
that redrew the battle lines.

It began at dawn,
with Hamas militants

firing thousands of rockets
into Israel from Gaza.

October 7th changed everything.

Israelis woke up today
to find their worst nightmares

had come true.

A massive surprise attack.

Hamas using motorised paragliders

carrying heavily armed fighters
deep into Israeli territory.

It is not clear right now

how many Israelis
have been taken hostage by Hamas.

While Israelis were still
counting their dead

and families waited
for news of hostages,

a wave of Western campuses
were already blaming Israel.

Harvard in the hot seat now

after failing to swiftly respond
and denounce a letter posted by

a student-run Harvard Palestine
Solidarity Group...

The letter was co-signed
by 33 other student organisations.

...holding the Israeli regime
entirely responsible

for all unfolding violence.

For me, the shock wasn't just
what the students were saying.

It was the timing.

In the months that followed,

the human cost in Gaza
would be overwhelming.

But this was only one day after
Hamas's gruesome attack on Israelis,

and already across campuses,

it was being framed
as a reasonable form of resistance.

Do you guys remember

the photos of the bulldozer
breaking through the border?

- Yes!
- And the several other joyful
and powerful images

which came from the glorious
October 7th?

Yes!

Images of the paragliders
Hamas used in the attack

were turned into campus poster art -

transformed into symbols
of liberation,

by any means necessary.

We are so horrible
for showing a paraglider?

What about their jets?

Israeli jets have killed thousands

and thousands of thousands of
Palestinians, but that's OK?

As this was playing out on campuses,
Christopher Rufo was watching.

Much has happened
since we first met,

especially in the field
of higher education.

The events of October 7th
in Israel and Gaza,

I think changed everything.

I think anyone with
even a meagre conscience

could see that this was
a barbaric act of terror,

savagery, butchery.

And it seemed like the only people
who could not immediately see that

were American academics.

They were able to breathe
for the first time in years!

It was exhilarating.

And if they weren't exhilarated...

...by this... this challenge
to the monopoly of violence,

by this shifting
of the balance of power,

then they would not be human.

I was exhilarated!

CHEERING

I've always believed in free speech,

defended it, even when it was hard.

But this felt personal.

I'm Jewish and I have family
and friends in Israel,

many who oppose
their own government's policies

and sympathise
with Palestinian suffering.

So watching a Cornell professor

call the October 7th attacks
"exhilarating",

"energising",
was hard to process.

He wasn't some anonymous voice
online.

He was a tenured
Ivy League professor

who appeared to be celebrating
mass murder.

I needed to know what was happening
on that campus...

...so I headed to Cornell.

A Cornell professor is under fire

after he called the attack
on Israel "exhilarating".

Russell Rickford spoke out at
a pro-Palestinian rally on Sunday.

Listen to the absolute bile
coming out of this man's mouth.

I saw Russell Rickford's speech

because I was the speaker
who followed him at that rally.

That speech talked about
the long history

of Jewish and black resistance
and civil rights.

It talked about the ways
in which that as a community

that is fighting for justice
for everyone,

we need to love each other
and support each other.

Professor Rickford,
he made his comments,

which I still maintain
were taken out of context.

That became an international...

Can I say shitstorm?

I hope that people can go back
and read the transcript,

because if anything,
that speech brought people together

in a way that I have
never seen before.

So I did go back
and watch the entire speech,

but I didn't hear
the rally Bianca heard

unifying a movement
for love and support.

There was no room for Israelis,
Jewish or not,

who wanted peace,
but also a country to call home.

He was framing it all through
an anti-colonial lens.

And through that lens,
Hamas was an anti-colonial force.

And he came uncomfortably close

to justifying the deliberate
targeting of civilians.

Disturbing as I found it,
I knew it was his right to say it.

Still, I kept thinking, what if
this man was teaching my kids?

CHANTING

It felt like an oversimplified lens

projected onto a conflict
half a world away,

and it shut down
any chance of conversation.

People are complex,

and this binary of oppressed
and not oppressed...

...white or non-white,
is... ludicrous

and against the very ideals
of nuance and understanding

that progressivism
is supposed to be,

or at least the way I thought
it was supposed to be.

Campus protests against Israel's war
in Gaza are continuing

to grow across the US.

Cornell University
has joined the list.

Dozens of students
from groups including

the Coalition
for Mutual Liberation...

...started a pro-Palestine
encampment.

- Free, free...
- Palestine!

I think for me, a university
is a key battleground amongst many.

I think university's
a key battleground.

I think the war of narratives,
the battle of ideas,

which then go on
to shape public opinion,

happens a lot
and is produced at universities.

People who have been starved
by the colonial

Zionist entity of Israel...

We hope through our campaigns

that other students
become more radicalised.

The occupation's got to go!

...cannot bring down people power!

CHEERING

There's growing
international pressure on Israel

to halt the fighting.

As diplomacy fails,
desperation in Gaza increases.

Before we go further,
I need to say this plainly.

October 7th was a massacre,

and the scale of civilian death
in Gaza

from Israel's military assault
is devastating.

Both are true.

So I understand protest,

the need to stand up when
you're convinced something is wrong.

But alongside the real grief
and outrage,

I started to recognise
something else at work.

This is the last fight, the last
fight of Western imperialism,

and it's nearing collapse.

It appeared on campuses
long before this conflict.

It was about power -
who has it and who doesn't.

Do you stand with
the elite institution,

or do you stand
with the working people?

CHEERING

An ideology woven into the fabric
of education itself.

We actually need to crash
the US settler state.

The moment that you grab the gun,
you're no longer oppressed.

You're now free.

How do we teach that in the class?

The more I looked,
the more it felt familiar.

The revolutionary politics
of the '60s and '70s

back in circulation,

like something pulled straight out
of an old campus archive.

-
- Gaza, Gaza, don't you cry!

Palestine will never die!

I'm a PhD student in Africana.

For those who know, Africana was
built out of an armed occupation.

In 1969, students demanding
an Africana study centre

occupied, with arms, Willard
Straight, demanding that right.

I didn't know what Africana was.

Turns out, it's what's often called
Black Studies,

a field born out of
the campus protests of the '60s,

when black students
wanted their history reflected

in an overwhelmingly
white curriculum.

One of the most famous protests
happened here at Cornell.

So, what drew me to Africana
is a long tradition of activism,

a long tradition of taking up causes

for those
who you believe are oppressed.

Who is the oppressor?
Who is the oppressed?

These were the same ideas that
I'd heard come up at Evergreen...

The oppressor.

- ...York...
- A lens of victimhood.

...in conferences...

We ain't just internally
colonised...

...at Harvard...

An oppression
of minoritized communities.

...the same script adapted
to every college major.

Mathematics has supported

white supremacist
capitalist patriarchy.

Gender is a colonial imposition.

And sometimes, it just lost me.

Sort of the dimension of queerness
and feminism, insofar as

Islam, homonationalism, pinkwashing.

I think I've practically been
the only one to hold my classes

in the encampment.

On queer and feminist
Bipoc traditions

from decolonial abolitionist
perspectives,

that's what I was here
to teach.

Colonialism as a structure...

Once this critical social justice
ideology was launched,

it pulled everything into its orbit -

colonialism, queerness, patriarchy,

white supremacy, climate change,

and now Zionism,
with Palestine at its symbolic core.

People believe that
if you're pro-Israel,

you're pro-oppressor,
and if you're pro-oppressor,

you're pro-slavery,
you're pro, you know,

like, stealing of indigenous land.

Cornell's founding was enabled
in the course

of a national genocide

by the sale of almost one million
acres of stolen Indian land.

And just as Native Americans
are the indigenous people of the US,

Turtle Island,

so Palestinians are the indigenous
people of Israel-Palestine.

Professors are deeply problematic
at creating this hostile environment

by not exposing their students
to a range of ideas

and only pushing
one particular narrative.

I think it's a diverse faculty,

and so I don't think any single
professor can or should be bound

to give all points of view.

It doesn't unite.
It just pushes us apart,

which is really sad.

I approached Professor Rickford
at several rallies,

but he declined an interview...

...I assume, because his viral speech

had already made him a target
for online threats.

Still, I wondered how much influence
professors like him...

...had on students like Momodou.

The reason why I find myself
having affinity to Palestine

is that my faith commands me
and instructs me to,

like, stand for justice and always
side with those who are oppressed.

Last week, we saw the honourable
Aaron Bushnell achieve martyrdom.

He gave the greatest act of refusal.

My name is Aaron Bushnell.

I am an active duty member
Of the United States Air Force...

...and I will no longer be complicit
in genocide.

I'm about to engage
in an extreme act of protest.

Hi, sir. Can I help you?

Can I help you, sir?

- Free Palestine.
- Hey. Hey!
- Free Palestine!

Free Palestine!

Man's on fire! Man's on fire!

SCREAMING
Free Palestine!

Get on the ground!

He will carry on the torch
of protesting

and fighting against
this imperialist system.

I think what Aaron Bushnell
had done, for many of us,

is a call to action.

And as someone who's a Muslim,
martyrdom or dying in the way

of a just cause is very much
a weighty, lofty and rewarded thing.

So I was trying to make
the connection between

Aaron Bushnell, martyrdom and Islam.

Absolutely not, but I think the fact

that he has got that desperate
says something.

Yeah, I mean, it's not... Again,
I see... When I read his posts,

this is someone who has a clear
mind, who knows what they're doing,

and I think it's unfair to say
he was a mad man or...

Because he was very lucid
and his will was quite clear,

why he's doing what he's doing.

Again, that's not, for me, a tactic
that ever should be, like, promoted,

but for me, it's not about
focusing on the act itself,

but rather what it represents.

He gave the greatest act of refusal.

He engaged
in the greatest act of protest,

and the bare minimum we can do
to honour his legacy

is to say, "Not in our name."

Protest has always been part
of campus life,

but praising self-immolation
as the greatest form of protest

isn't what I expected to hear
on an Ivy League campus.

And it left no room for dialogue.

I was walking outside my class
and there was an installation

of about 100 white flags
on the ground,

scattered in a circle, and I walk up
and I found two women,

and I said, what is this?

And they said, "Oh,
it's a memorial to commemorate

"the lives lost
in the genocides of Congo,

"Palestine and other places."

And I said, "What about those
who were brutally killed in Israel

"on October 7th by Hamas?"

And they said, "Well,
we actually have a rabbi,

"Jewish representatives coming,

"and they are represented
in these flags."

And I said, "Well, that's..."
Like, I said, "Thank you.

"That's exactly what we need.
We need to stand together.

"We need people to see
a rabbi standing next to an imam."

So, we had a conversation that was
fairly heated and emotional...

...for 45 minutes
with two Arab women.

We each cried at one point,
we exchanged numbers,

and at one point they asked me,
"Well, then why are you here?"

And I said, "Well, I'm here
because I'm a proud Zionist,

"and what it means to me to be
a Zionist is to push my country

"to continue being better.

"And I want to stand with you, and
I want to understand what I can do."

And Mamadou overheard me say
I was a proud Zionist,

and he immediately came over.

And at this point,
he said, "You said you're a Zionist?

"You're the reason we're all here."
You're the reason they're all dead.

"You're a racist country."

And then he turns to everyone around
and he says, "Here, everyone,

"you know what? This girl,
she's a proud Zionist.

"She's a racist and that's how
we're going to know her."

And I was like...
I was just dumbfounded.

And he said at one point he said,
"You're disrupting us

"with your Zionism." And I looked
at the two women I was speaking to

and I said,
"Have I been disruptive to you?"

And they both said, "No, Momodou,
stop." He didn't stop berating me,

and then at that point,
I turned to him and I said,

"This is the problem that we have,

"that people like you are so angry
that we can't

even have a proper discourse
in this country."

There should be dialogue.

I'm just not that person.

I understand the call for nuance,
I really do, but I don't understand

why there's a call for nuance
when we believe it is racism.

I would not two-sides racism,
I won't two-sides homophobia.

I want two-sides white supremacy.
So I don't...

I'm a bit confused at this call
for two-sidesing of the issue.

The Zionists are losing ground.
They are cowards.

They are scared and our global
movement is growing daily.

I have seen chat posts
that detail Zionism being fascism,

Zionism is the same thing
as being a Nazi,

and honestly, it's no surprise
to why half the student body,

if not more, hates Zionists.

It's because they don't know
what it means to be a Zionist.

I think Zionism is white supremacy.

I think Zionism is a form of racism
and the settler colonial entity,

and I think no amount of conflating
with Judaism as a religion

is going to make me change my mind.

Zionism isn't an ugly word.

It's just been twisted to be that.

And it was the idea that Jews have
the right to their own homeland,

their own state, and it's not
intended to preclude

the idea that there should be
a Palestinian state,

and I think that's probably
the most important thing

that gets lost in translation.

- Rick.
- Yeah.
- I just forwarded you
an email

that I just got from a professor.

I guess word got out
that we've been on campus.

- Check it out.
- OK. Oh, my God.

The following was posted by the camp
today, the encampments, right?

Perhaps you've seen it.

"Update on documentary crew.
Please wear masks.

"The director, who is a Zionist,
is on site.

"Be wary of
what you are saying around them

"and guard yourself
from a potentially unfriendly crew."

I mean, are you kidding?
Zionist has become a dirty word.

- So...
- Why do they think
you're a Zionist?
- I don't know.

I think we should speak to Zionists

and I think we should speak
to anti-Zionists.

Well, we're doing that, I think.

Last time I spoke with the encampment
crowd, they were open to talking,

but something changed.

I think it's conditional when just
Garfield and whoever is, like,

filming or doing audio
to do the interview.

The only thing is that
Ric is the director.

So would it be OK

if it was just Ric
and the camera person instead of me?

- I don't think so.
- Can I ask you something?

- Sure.
- We got an email.
"Update on documentary crew,

"and the director, who is a
Zionist, is on site. Be wary of

"what you're saying around them
and guard yourself."

Is that what this is coming from?

I think like in terms of
our discussions with Zionists

and how Zionists have been
towards the movement,

they haven't been engaging in
dialogue that has been productive.

What does Zionist means to you that
implies that it would not be fair?

But you can still believe
that there could be

a state of Israel
and care about Palestinian rights

and the need for Palestinians
to have a homeland?

Mm-hm. No, that's a very fair point.

That's honestly not something
I've heard too much,

because a lot of Zionists on campus
have been very...

...not open to discussion,

and I think, like, that's
what a lot of people are wary of.

Once I was labelled a Zionist
without ever being asked

what I believe, the conversation
was over.

The Zionists will fall

and I can't wait to see all of you
in the liberated Palestine.

Israel will fall, Israel will fall.
Israel will fall!

I imagined how I would feel
if I was a Jewish student right now,

walking to class through these
protests and hearing these slogans.

-
- Free, free, Palestine!

Free, free Palestine!

This one's easy -
a call for freedom.

No problem standing with that.

But on campuses around the world,
the chants didn't stop there.

From the river to the sea!

Palestine will be free!

From the river to the sea!

Palestine will be free!

This one's harder. Some hear it
as a call for Palestinian liberation.

Others hear it
as a call to erase Israel.

For me, "Globalise the intifada"
lands like a threat -

and I heard that fear
from students too.

I couldn't help wondering -
why not "Ceasefire now",

"Peace for everyone,"
"Two states for two peoples"?

As someone who speaks Arabic,
it's important

that intifada comes from
the root word "nafada",

which means just like
the breaking off of chains, right?

So I think that language
first and foremost,

again, is also rooted
in, like, an Islamic-phobia,

Islamophobia, also rooted

in the painting the Muslim
as the other,

painting Arabic-sounding words
as the other, painting...

Like, there's almost a fear
around that, right?

Intifada, intifada!

Sure, the word intifada
might have poetic roots,

but in modern history,
it's tied to uprisings

in the West Bank and Gaza
and the targeting of Israelis.

That's the association
the word carries for me -

not because of Islamophobia,
but because of history.

So when people chant
"Globalise the intifada",

what exactly do they mean?

The moment you start chanting,
"There's only one solution,

"Intifada revolution,"
which is a genocidal chant,

I'm sorry, your intentions are not
for dialogue or to speak your mind.

Your intentions are to cause
violence and to hate people.

Go back to Europe.

- You're from Europe.
- I'm
a New Yorker.
- You're from Europe.

I'm a New Yorker.

My mother survived Auschwitz
in Poland.

My grandparents were murdered there,
so no thanks.

I'm not going back.

But if I were a student hearing that
on campus...

Zionists, they're Nazis.

...it wouldn't feel
especially inclusive.

They're Nazis. They're fascists.
They're supporters of genocide.

Someone, in the chat, right now,

should people who are supporters
of genocide,

should Zionists - aka Nazis,
white supremacists -

should they live?

Should they live?

If you say something
about black people,

gay people, disabled people,
whomever it may be,

you'll probably get kicked out
of our school,

suspended, cancelled,
whatever it may be.

What I'm seeing is just...

...there is a defence
of everyone's rights

but Jewish people's rights.

I'd say that as a trans person,
I've been very lucky.

Cornell is a very accepting place.

I've had much more difficulty

being Jewish
than I have being trans.

There's absolutely a double standard
when it comes to

who has the free speech rights
to voice their opinions.

And when it comes from
the hyper progressive left,

there's a free pass
to say whatever you want.

Ms Magill, at Penn, does calling
for the genocide of Jews

violate Penn's rules
or code of conduct,

- yes or no?
- If it...
If the speech...
- Yes or no.

If the speech becomes conduct,
it can be harassment, yes.

Conduct meaning
committing the act of genocide?

This was a turning point.

For years, conservatives
had been circling,

waiting for an opening.

Now, they had one -

a chance to expose how
higher education embraced...

The ideology of the radical left.

Illiberal sewers of intolerance
and bigotry.

On your campuses.

Their first assault was in
the political theatre of Congress,

designed for viral clips.

Dr Gay, a Harvard student calling

for the mass murder of
African-Americans is not protected

free speech at Harvard, correct?

- Our commitment to free speech...
- It's a yes or no question.

You have university presidents
in the hot seat

and then the congressmen
and congresswomen up on the dais,

and they're grilling people
trying to get a kind of viral clip.

That's how the game is played.

I will ask you one more time -

does calling for
the genocide of Jews

violate Harvard's rules of
bullying and harassment?

Yes or no?

It can be, depending on the context.

It depends on the context.

And you've got to think like,
what is this per...

What is she thinking? I mean,
this is like such a softball,

such a slam dunk.

The damage was done.

Universities claim to defend
free speech,

but their evasions seemed to reveal
a glaring double standard.

What's the context?

Stefanik and her party now had
an arsenal of stories like Bret's,

Erec's, Zack's, Lee's and Carole's,

to use as examples of
the universities' intolerance.

In the end, it was
the institutions' failure to uphold

the very principles they preached
that exposed a damaging hypocrisy.

It's in the exercise of our freedom
to speak

that we reveal the character
of our institution.

Our university rejects
the harassment

or intimidation of individuals
based on their beliefs.

No, they don't.
They explicitly do not do that.

This is offensive to me
because it's not true.

It's just not true.

She was one person who could have
defended my right

to express my views, and so this is
just empty. Very empty to me.

And our university embraces
a commitment to free expression.

- "That commitment extends..."
- ...even to views

that many of us find objectionable,
even outrageous, even outrageous.

In my case,

it didn't even extend to views
that almost everyone agrees with,

which are totally obvious.

That is why I became the poster
child for Harvard's hypocrisy.

Carole Hooven,
an evolutionary biologist,

was forced to resign
because she stated

that a person's sex is biological
and binary.

And so President Gay,

in what world is a call for violence
against Jews protected speech...

...but a belief that sex
is biological and binary isn't?

This is why I've called
for your resignation.

These are unacceptable answers
across the board.

This was so shocking that I think
it really cut through the noise,

and seeing this anti-Semitism
on campus laid bare,

and then understanding it
within the framework

of left-wing decolonisation theory,

I think, connected the dots
for a lot of people who,

you know, previously might have felt
that something was off,

but it was not quite clear,
and then they couldn't

attach it to the ideology.

I think that illusion
has been now dispelled.

While anti-Semitism on campus
is real,

here, it was being exploited
to score points.

And the hearings worked.

"It depends on the context" became
the clip that ended careers

and attracted conservative activists
like moths to a flame.

I'm actually at Harvard Yard
right now,

where we have our mobile billboard,

along with two U-Haul
moving trucks -

because after all, it's moving day
for Claudine Gay.

Hey, guys, what do you think about
Claudine Gay resigning from Harvard?

Adam Guillette, known for
his confrontational tactics,

came looking for outrage
and found it.

Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you,
Fuck you.

Well, you're cool.
You're just walking around.

You guys are fucking sick.
You're a fucking disgusting,

just gross, little man.

So, you don't think
the moving trucks are a good idea,

or should we have gone with Ryder
rather than U-Haul?

"Should we have gone with Ryder?"
Get a real fucking job,

you fucking prick. How about that,

you Zionist fucking
disgusting bitch?

I hate y'all, dude.
I fucking hate y'all.

Claudine Gay wasn't the first,
and she wouldn't be the last.

Under pressure from Congress,
alumni, donors and the media,

a string of university presidents
were compelled to resign.

But on campuses,
the protests dragged on for months -

occupied halls, disrupted classes.

The lines had blurred
between protest and threat...

...dissent and disruption,
legitimate criticism of Israel

and anti-Semitism.

A conflict thousands of miles away
divided campuses into battlefields.

And now Trump,
hot on the campaign trail,

had a new rallying cry
for his war on higher education.

To every college president, I say,
remove the encampments immediately,

vanquish the radicals
and take back our campuses

for all of the normal students

who want a safe place
from which to learn.

Give me a reason
why you're doing this.

Oh, my God, you people are fascists!
You are Hitler!

I'm peacefully protesting
and they're fucking arrested me.

They arrested over 100 individuals,
then suspended them.

Cornell University
is suspending enrolment

and study for students
that participate in campus protests.

The school is alleging
that I was involved

in the organisation of an
unauthorised encampment on campus.

The tents here have to go.

It will be a permanent moral stain

on the legacy of
this university forever.

The school is alleging
that I led chants

that became disruptive
for university activity.

That signals to me that
there's something profoundly wrong

about our university's ability to
guarantee our freedom of expression

on campus.

You have elite academic institutions
that are self-destructing,

that have been exposed
ideologically.

Should power change hands
after the election this year,

I know for a fact that
there are significant changes

coming to American higher education.

Look what has happened.
Is this crazy?

♪ The jukebox is pounding
The bar is lit with smoke

♪ The patrons,
they've been brawling... ♪

Free speech used to be a shared
value, no matter the politics.

I'm a very strong person
for free speech.

Now, it's a weapon wielded by those
in power.

♪ The last dance... ♪

Our country will be woke no longer.

It's Physics 101 - for every action,
there's an opposite reaction.

On campus, a movement for fairness
and inclusion slid into zealotry.

Supercharged by social media,

certain ideas became blasphemy

and disagreements put professors
and students in the crosshairs.

It's not a debate.
It's not a debate.

And when the pendulum swung back,

it was more like a wrecking ball
swinging hard to the right,

with a reality TV grin.

I've notified every single
government DEI officer

that their job has been deleted.

They're gone. They're fired.
You're fired!

The culture war hasn't left campus,
it's been taken over by government.

We have to honestly
and aggressively attack

the universities in this country.

By weaponising anti-Semitism
through lawsuits and funding freezes,

Trump was executing on
a campaign promise.

College presidents must end
the anti-Semitic propaganda,

or they will lose
their accreditation

and they will lose
all federal support.

He has threatened us through
extortion with a billion-dollar fine

unless we do his bidding.

Freezing more than $2 billion
in research funds.

The impacts of those cuts
will be severe

to cutting-edge cures for cancer,
cures for diseases.

These actions are not
about anti-Semitism.

They're about authoritarianism.

You're going to be under arrest.

It was a warning to anyone
who spoke out...

A Tufts University
graduate student...

Handcuffed and taken away
by plainclothes ICE agents.

...and activists like Momodou suddenly
faced the blunt edge of state power.

Momodou Taal had his visa revoked

and decided to leave the country
before ICE could catch him.

It was a ticking time bomb
until I'm picked up off the streets.

Every time I find one
of these lunatics,

I take away their visa.

For all their differences,

the extremes have something
in common -

the same impulse to use power
to silence what they can't tolerate.

♪ I see you in the shadows... ♪

If I've learned anything going back
to school, it's this -

if we want to hold on
to our fragile democracy,

we've got to defend free speech,

even when it's hard,
especially when it's personal.

Because once speech becomes
a privilege

granted or revoked by those in power,
it isn't free any more.

It's just power,

and then it's not just speech
we're losing.

It's conversation...

...the ability
to speak across differences.

That's what's at stake.

So we better start talking again
before we forget how.

At least that's what I think.

What do you think?