Police were called to break up pro-Palestinian demonstrations at New York University and Yale on Monday, and other schools moved classes online or closed parts of campuses as protests continued to spread. NYU officers moved through crowds of pro-Palestinian protesters Monday evening. The issue of academic freedom in the United States continues to be a source of political polarization. According to the free speech advocacy group Pen America, academics’ rights are under attack. In a report released in late 2023, the organization documented more than 300 bills introduced since January 2021, in 44 states, aimed at limiting discussion on high school and college campuses about issues such as racism, gender and LGBTQ identity. The group called them “a direct threat to the culture of curiosity that makes higher education institutions a pillar of our democracy” and referred to “academic gag orders.” The issues targeted are those that have fueled the “culture war” that Democrats and Republicans have been waging for decades on social issues but the clash within US universities also traces other lines and rifts. The aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel has rocked many campuses, as college presidents have been ousted, campus protest has been limited and alumni, donors and politicians have pushed for greater scrutiny. We talk about it with Raffaella Baritono, full professor of History and Politics of the United States of America at the School of Political Sciences of the University of Bologna. | A jury of seven men and five women will evaluate testimony relating to the payment of $130,000 by Donald Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, to porn star Stormy Daniels, as an alleged attempt by the former US president to protect his candidacy in the 2016 election and withholding damaging information about extramarital sex. Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying corporate records in the spring of 2023. The trial began Monday in Lower Manhattan court in New York, and the testimony of Cohen – who now claims Trump’s guilt – could prove decisive lead to the first conviction in history in a criminal trial for a former president of the United States. We talk about it with Gregory Alegi, professor of US history at LUISS University. | Your brainwaves are for sale. The companies behind such technologies have access to recordings of users’ brain activity: the electrical signals underlying our thoughts, feelings and intentions. But a new Colorado law wants to change that and extend privacy rights to the neural data increasingly coveted by tech companies. We talk about it with Luca Zorloni, head of wired.it. Giulia De Luca at the microphones.
23 Apr 2024
Tags: Radio3 World S2024 Academic freedoms USA Stormy Daniels stormy weather Trump Brainwaves sale Rai Radio
