This seminar investigates the intersections of higher education, the prison-industrial complex, and systemic inequities in the U.S. that threaten the advancement of academic freedom. Using Black studies as a lens, this seminar delves into the impact of mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline on access to higher educational outcomes.

Khalil Gibran Muhammad is the inaugural Professor of African American Studies and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where he directs the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project.

The Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity is a co-sponsor of The Sawyer Seminar Series, convened by Department of African and African American Studies and the Center for the Humanities.

The series examines how Black studies can help sustain academic freedom and reimagine democratic higher education. The seminar unfolds through a yearlong series of themed conversations that bring together faculty, students, community partners and national leaders. For a full list of programming please visit: