Soundside

New school year, new fights over free speech at the UW

September 30, 2026·50 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

The University of Washington's Board of Regents almost voted on a change to the school's Student Conduct Code in early September, which led to a wave of pushback from students and faculty who read it as an effort to crackdown on certain kinds of protests. The school delayed that original vote and extended its feedback period to December.  Soundside spoke to students, as well as an organization that advocates for free speech, about what all of this signals about the state of protests at the University of Washington.  Also, KUOW is a self-sustaining service of the University of Washington, meaning we fundraise separately and maintain editorial independence from the school. Today on the show: Radcliffe Cushman, an undergraduate student at the University of Washington Francisco Dojenia, a graduate student at the University of Washington  Laura Beltz, the director of policy reform at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression   Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible. If you want to help out, go to donate.kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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