Abstract
- Higher education is a key front in culture wars across history, recent years intensifying attacks on academic spaces. Vulnerability of faculty and programs centering marginalized voices and institutional critique is clear. Opposition to “woke” intellectual discourse has inspired legislation and institutional moves violating core principles regarding academic freedom. Given the cancellation of the National Communication Association's (NCA) 2023 Presidential Address, reports by NCA’s Task Force on Academic Freedom, and Ad-Hoc Presidential Address Inquiry Committee, serious reflection is salient. Speeches dedicated to this reflection, delivered at the Opening Session of the 2024 NCA convention and slightly edited for readers are merged. These express broad views of long-standing threats to academic freedom for communities within the discipline, including the role therein of NCA.