Tucked in the back of Georgia Tech’s Kendeda Building on Oct. 30, a group of local Harvard alumni held a meeting to tackle one of the major issues facing their alma mater: the case for academic freedom.
The Harvard Club of Georgia hosted an alumni panel to talk about the institution’s ongoing feud with the federal government that has cost it millions of dollars and created a “chilling effect” on speech — and how it connects to colleges here in Georgia.
In early 2025, the Trump administration gave Harvard a list of demands the university had to meet to keep federal funding. Harvard President Alan Garber rejected the ultimatums, which required changes to academic programming and employee hiring.
The federal government responded by freezing $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in university contracts. Harvard filed a lawsuit in response, and in September, a judge blocked the funding freeze. But advocates worry federal interference will keep coming for colleges.
Alumni also got involved: A group created Crimson Courage, aimed at pushing back against federal threats and ultimatums. The goal? Protecting academic freedom, at “Harvard and beyond.”
Emory University Professor and Harvard alum Tom Rogers laid out what exactly “academic freedom” is and why it’s so important.
“Academic freedom is a professional freedom to use your capacity to share your ideas, explore your ideas and to do those in specific contexts,” Rogers said. “It is the right to teach and have freedom in the classroom.”
Moves to change employee hiring could put that freedom at risk – especially when professors are in danger of being fired for their speech. In September, Emory fired a professor for her social media posts in the wake of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The university didn’t confirm who they fired, but the Emory Wheel reported that School of Medicine Associate Professor Anna Kenney posted on Facebook that Kirk was a “disgusting individual” and said “good riddance.” She was fired within 72 hours.
On Oct. 30, the alumni panelists said the firing was in direct violation of the open expression policy at Emory University. But it’s not Georgia’s first run-in with academic freedom issues.
The American Association of University Professors put the University System of Georgia, which runs all the public universities and colleges in the state, under formal censure for its tenure policies.
According to the AAUP, the new policy effectively abolished tenure by making it possible to fire faculty without affording a dismissal hearing. It’s the type of move that raised alarms for the 5,800 tenured faculty in Georgia.
To the panelists, it’s a clear-cut issue: Without tenure, a professor could be fired without warning for speaking out. The AAUP lays this out as a clear risk to academic freedom. But some are worried about the cultural impact.
Craig Goodmark, a lawyer and Harvard alum, said the federal pressure has created a “chilling effect.” He recalled a “high level of paranoia” when he tried to have conversations about health equity, and several professors were scared to talk about it over email.
“I wonder, how do you repair that culture when you have this self-censorship?” Goodmark asked.
Organizations like Crimson Courage have tried to leverage alumni power into signature campaigns and public support for Harvard’s resistance against the administration. But Evelyn Kim, the co-chair of Crimson Courage’s Communications Committee, said it’s about “flipping the narrative.”
“It’s easy for each university to basically say, we’re only concerned about our own interests and not the interests of other universities,” Kim said. “But the only way we can fight this entire system is by banding together.”
Kim acknowledged that every school has particular circumstances, and what works for a small private school in the Northeast would look different for a major state college like the University of Georgia. But she believes all colleges need to “build a coalition.”
Moderator Tanya Washington said it’s about personal choices, too, though. While most of the conversation revolved around danger to professors, she pointed out that students have seen free speech crackdowns around hot-button issues and political protests. It’s up to every person, professor or student, to decide how they will react to the environment.
“I think we’re in a moment where all of us are going to have to decide for ourselves,” Washington said. “What are we going to do when it’s time for us to make the decision to stand or capitulate?”
