It is a particularly challenging time for those who work or study at institutions of American higher education. It seems like there is a new crisis around every corner that is challenging all of us to think about what higher education is for, what we stand to lose that we should fight to preserve, how we might innovate or adapt to changing times, and how to effectively articulate why all of this matters to those who might not be so sure. The turmoil currently roiling American colleges and universities is revealing competing definitions of “college education”--what exactly is it? Who is it for? What’s supposed to happen there? Who gets to decide?

There is no shortage of crazy talk or stupid talk around these questions, and a lot of “unsane” thinking and acting. At this event, which took place at the historic Players Club on September 10, 2025, an impressive panel of speakers helped us sort out what is going on so we could start the new school year with equanimity, composure, and clarity of purpose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDZ1xCPyOpk

Panelists

Missy Alexander is the Provost Emeritus of Western Connecticut State University, where she oversaw all academic programs from Early College to Graduate degrees. Prior to being appointed to the position of Provost, she served as Dean of the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences at WCSU, championing interdisciplinary programs and general education reform. At Marist College, she taught Communication focusing on theory, research, and ethics. For several years she served in leadership roles in the New York State Communication Association, as Pedagogy Editor of EME, and Associate Editor of ETC. Dr. Alexander earned her doctorate in Media Ecology from New York University, and her MA and BA from Hunter College. Since her retirement, she has focused on the arts, serving as president on two boards - the Merryall Center and the Sherman Players. When not organizing programming, seeking donations, or painting the stairs, she performs with the trio The Red Dirt Girls and with her husband in Yours Truly.

Susan Drucker (Juris Doctor, St. John's University) is a distinguished professor of journalism in the Department of Journalism/Media Studies, School of Communication at Hofstra University. She is an attorney and a treasurer of the Urban Communication Foundation. She is the author and editor/co-editor of thirteen books and over 200 articles and book chapters, including the Urban Communication Reader (Volumes 1 and 2, Hampton Press, 2010; vol. 3, Peter Lang, 2012), Voices in the Street: Gender, Media and Public Space (Hamptom Press, 1997) and Urban Communication Regulations: Communication Freedoms and Limits (Peter Lang, 2018). Her work examines the relationship between media technology and human factors, particularly as viewed from a legal perspective.

Nadine Strossen, New York Law School Professor Emerita and Senior Fellow at FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), was President of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1991 to 2008. An internationally acclaimed free speech scholar and advocate, who regularly addresses diverse audiences and provides media commentary around the world, Strossen serves on the advisory boards of the ACLU and several academic freedom/free speech organizations. She is the Host and Project Consultant for Free To Speak, a 3-hour documentary film series distributed on public television in 2023. Her most recent book is: The War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail (coauthored with FIRE President Greg Lukianoff) (2025).