The closing seminar invites participants to view academic freedom not only as a principle to be debated but also as a collective project. Participants will collectively articulate a vision of academic freedom shaped by preceding seminar topics and grounded in the insights of Black studies and the humanities — one that reinforces faculty governance, protects the conditions necessary for rigorous and independent knowledge production, and affirms the university’s obligation to serve the public good.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is a professor in the Department of African-American Studies at Princeton University.

Robin D.G. Kelley is distinguished professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA.

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: