08
December 2025
Past Event
Authoritarians in the Academy: How Adversaries Infiltrate Higher Education to Threaten Free Speech and National Security

Event will also air live on this page.

 

 

Inquiries: tmagnuson@hudson.org.

Authoritarians in the Academy: How Adversaries Infiltrate Higher Education to Threaten Free Speech and National Security

Past Event
Hudson Institute
December 08, 2025
Getty Images
Caption
A security fence around the campus of George Washington University. (Getty Images)
08
December 2025
Past Event

Event will also air live on this page.

 

 

Inquiries: tmagnuson@hudson.org.

Speakers:
SM
Sarah McLaughlin

Senior Scholar of Global Expression, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)

Institutions of higher education in the United States have long benefitted from free and open collaboration with overseas partners. But foreign adversaries like China have exploited this openness to infiltrate American colleges and universities with programs like Confucius Institutes and Chinese Student-Scholars Associations. Beijing also uses generous financial contributions to infuse its propaganda and interests into American campuses. By exploiting America’s education system, the Chinese Communist Party is attacking core American values like free speech and imperiling US national security.

Join Senior Fellow Michael Sobolik for a conversation with Sarah McLaughlin, a senior scholar at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, about her recent book on this subject, Authoritarians in the Academy.

Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Related Events
15
July 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
The Future of US Foreign Policy in the Middle East with Representative Mike Lawler
Featured Speakers:
Congressman Mike Lawler
Joel Rayburn
DVIDS
15
July 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
The Future of US Foreign Policy in the Middle East with Representative Mike Lawler

Join Representative Mike Lawler (NY-17), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, for a conversation with Senior Fellow Joel Rayburn on the emerging Middle East security order and the future of American strategy in the region.

DVIDS
Featured Speakers:
Congressman Mike Lawler
Joel Rayburn
16
July 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
The Western Balkans: A View from Vienna with Austrian Minister for Europe, Integration, and Family Claudia Bauer 
Featured Speakers:
Peter Rough
Claudia Bauer
Getty Images
16
July 2026
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
The Western Balkans: A View from Vienna with Austrian Minister for Europe, Integration, and Family Claudia Bauer 

Join Senior Fellow Peter Rough as he welcomes Claudia Bauer, minister for Europe in the Federal Chancellery of Austria, for a policy address followed by a fireside chat on how Austria sees EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Peter Rough
Claudia Bauer
21
July 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
The US-Israel Economic Partnership: A Farewell Conversation with Minister Noach Hacker
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Noach Hacker
Getty Images
21
July 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
The US-Israel Economic Partnership: A Farewell Conversation with Minister Noach Hacker

As the region enters a new strategic phase, Hudson is honored to host Minister Hacker for what promises to be a candid farewell discussion.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Noach Hacker
22
July 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
Updating US Trade Policy: A Discussion on the Strategic and Economic Importance of Central Asia with Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)
Featured Speakers:
Ken Moriyasu
Congressman Jimmy Panetta
Image
22
July 2026
In-Person Event | Invite Only
Updating US Trade Policy: A Discussion on the Strategic and Economic Importance of Central Asia with Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)

Please join Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Senior Fellow Ken Moriyasu for a discussion on Central Asia’s economic and strategic significance and why updating US trade policy is key to unlocking the region’s potential in an era of renewed great power competition. 

Image
Featured Speakers:
Ken Moriyasu
Congressman Jimmy Panetta