Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
What’s the right line between scholarship and activism — and who should draw it. Alice Dreger, Martha McCaughey, Ann Little, Spencer Pelton, and Matt Burgess get concrete on academic freedom, mission clarity, evidence standards, repatriation, public scholarship, and how to rebuild trust. Moderator Katherine Johnson. Recorded at HxA’s Mountain West Regional.
Chapters:
00:00 Setup and panelist intros. Stakes of the topic
05:12 Activism vs advocacy. Land grant realities and open inquiry
10:09 Pressures on scholarship from outside groups and inside the academy
14:35 Decolonization, NAGPRA, and protecting collections while pursuing justice
20:34 What is the university for. Mission, truth telling, and curation by evidence
32:00 What to do. Law, markets, governance, journals, and faculty boldness
42:59 Is HxA “activism.” Q&A on evidence standards, transparency, and civic education
What’s the right line between scholarship and activism — and who should draw it. Alice Dreger, Martha McCaughey, Ann Little, Spencer Pelton, and Matt Burgess get concrete on academic freedom, mission clarity, evidence standards, repatriation, public scholarship, and how to rebuild trust. Moderator Katherine Johnson. Recorded at HxA’s Mountain West Regional.
Chapters:
00:00 Setup and panelist intros. Stakes of the topic
05:12 Activism vs advocacy. Land grant realities and open inquiry
10:09 Pressures on scholarship from outside groups and inside the academy
14:35 Decolonization, NAGPRA, and protecting collections while pursuing justice
20:34 What is the university for. Mission, truth telling, and curation by evidence
32:00 What to do. Law, markets, governance, journals, and faculty boldness
42:59 Is HxA “activism.” Q&A on evidence standards, transparency, and civic education
