Podcast Summary: The Chris Hedges Report — "Inside America's Academic Gulags" with Rashid Khalidi Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Episode Overview

Chris Hedges speaks with renowned historian Rashid Khalidi about the alarming suppression of academic freedom, especially concerning Middle East studies and criticism of Israel, across American universities. They discuss the increasing conflation of antisemitism with criticism of Israeli policy, the involvement of powerful political and donor networks in shaping curricula and faculty appointments, the dangerous precedent for free speech and academic inquiry, and the broader geopolitical context, including the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Suppression of Academic Freedom and Free Speech

• University Crackdowns: Multiple universities, notably Columbia and Harvard, have adopted restrictive policies on discussion about Israel and Palestine, prompted by both internal and external pressures ([00:10]–[07:33]).
  • Columbia appointed a Trump administration–approved monitor and accepted the IHRA definition of antisemitism, leading to disciplinary risk for discussing historical facts about Israel or genocide.
  • Police intervention on campuses, mass student arrests, and visa revocations for foreign students are part of a nationwide, coordinated response.
• Quotes:
  • Chris Hedges [00:10]: “The criminalization of free speech, fatal to honest intellectual inquiry, is a plague that is destroying our universities and our wider society.”
  • Rashid Khalidi [12:05]: “This is exactly what they did here with the dictatorship… They had to shut down that space in civil society as a prelude or as part of the takeover by this authoritarian military regime.”

2. Internal and External Agendas Driving University Policy

• Anticipatory Obedience: Universities often enacted restrictive measures preemptively, anticipating authoritarian pressures or catering to powerful interests within the institution ([04:13]–[07:57]).
  • Big donors (ex: Bill Ackman) and well-connected figures (ex: Larry Summers) influenced Harvard and Columbia to crack down on activism and critical teaching.
• Board and Faculty Complicity: Khalidi describes this as a “fifth column”—university insiders allied with external authoritarian interests ([07:57]).
  • Quote: Khalidi [07:57]: “They’re making us do what we wanted to do anyway… So this is not just an assault from without. This was an assault…coordinated with folks on the inside…for whom…the funding thing was an added impetus to what many of them wanted to do already.”

3. Authoritarian Precedent and Chilling Effects

• Monitoring and Surveillance: Surveillance and dossiers on faculty and students by organizations like CAMERA, Campus Watch, Professor Watch, and active harassment campaigns ([17:33]–[23:29]).
  • Khalidi [17:52]: “There’s…been a constant feature we’ve been putting up with for decades now…pushing a narrative that there were a variety of faculty at Columbia who were anti Semitic and anti Israel.”
• Weaponization of Complaints: The IHRA definition is leveraged to silence or discipline faculty who teach about genocide or criticize Israeli policy, even for historically accurate statements ([13:52]–[17:33]).
  • Quote: Khalidi [13:52]: “Those are examples…of things that I might not have been able to say. I talk about Wahhabi Islam now. … I would have had to put up with the same kind of idiotic proceedings that several of my colleagues have been dragged through…”

4. Media, Student, and Community Dynamics

• Role of Media: Major US media outlets are complicit, often disregarding or misrepresenting realities on the ground, especially in Gaza.
  • Khalidi [20:08]: “Their behavior in terms of Gaza and in terms of what’s been going on on campus has been despicable in my view…”
• Jewish Student Protesters: Intra-community divisions intensify, with Jewish students who oppose Israeli policy facing intense harassment—sometimes even more than their non-Jewish peers ([23:29]–[25:38]).
  • Quote: Khalidi [23:56]: “They had the hardest time because back home or in their community there's a deep, deep division…Young people are much less likely to see the fantasies that are peddled by the mainstream media.”

5. Institutional Transformation & Receivership

• Academic Receivership: Departments put under external monitors or new administrative controls face chilling effects beyond actual curriculum changes ([25:40]–[28:42]).
  • Faculty are deterred from teaching truthful but “sensitive” content.
  • The creation of new Israel Studies programs and appointment of overt pro-Israel figures reinforce institutional bias.

6. International Affairs Faculty and "Policy Discourse"

• Leadership Ties to Israeli Intelligence: Discussion on how security studies and counterterrorism programs, especially at influential schools like SIPA (School of International and Public Affairs), are run or shaped by former Israeli military and intelligence personnel ([28:42]–[31:26]).
  • Khalidi [29:23]: “She served as a captain in Israeli military intelligence and then worked in the Israeli mission to the United Nations…This is a woman who worked doing propaganda for Israel at the UN Mission of Israel…”

7. Gaza and the Global Consequences

• Catastrophe in Gaza: With mass starvation and targeted killings of Palestinian journalists, Hedges and Khalidi draw overt analogies to past atrocities, emphasizing Western complicity ([31:26]–[39:32]).
  • Arms from the US and Europe continue to flow; recognition of a “Palestinian state” is largely performative without real policy change.
  • Quote: Khalidi [32:30]: “If you talk about a Palestinian state and you don't talk about ending occupation and ending colonization, you're talking about nothing…If you don't do anything about [arms sales] and you talk about a Palestinian state…you are a participant in war crimes.”
• Breakdown of International Law: The post-WWII legal framework for war and human rights is collapsing amid inaction by the US and its allies.
  • Khalidi [36:17]: “That whole structure, the Genocide Convention, the restrictions on the use of certain weapons and so on and so forth, that is being trashed…Future aggressors are going to be able to do anything unhindered without a fabric of law to restrain them.”

Memorable Quotes & Moments (by Timestamp)

• [00:10] Chris Hedges: “The criminalization of free speech…is a plague that is destroying our universities and our wider society.”
• [05:12] Rashid Khalidi: “The Nazis were not leftists. The Ku Klux Klan are not leftists…Most [antisemitism] is on the right…”
• [12:05] Rashid Khalidi: “This is exactly what they did here with the dictatorship…the universities…as a prelude…to the takeover by this authoritarian military regime.”
• [13:52] Rashid Khalidi: “I would have felt that teaching about…the various constitutional laws in Israel, which are inherently racist, would lead me to fall afoul of…the IHRA definition…”
• [23:29] Chris Hedges: “Jewish students in the encampment…were the ones who were most targeted on campus.”
• [32:30] Rashid Khalidi: “If you talk about a Palestinian state and you don't talk about ending occupation and ending colonization, you're talking about nothing…”
• [36:17] Rashid Khalidi: “That whole structure…the Genocide Convention…is being trashed by Israel and the United States in Gaza…Future aggressors are going to be able to do anything unhindered without a fabric of law to restrain them.”

Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:10]–[04:13]: Overview of administrative and legal crackdowns on academic freedom.
• [04:13]–[07:33]: Discussion of “anticipatory obedience” and internal complicity.
• [09:04]–[12:05]: Authoritarian patterns in academia and suppression of speech; broader societal implications.
• [13:22]–[17:33]: Chilling effects on teaching and specifics of what can’t be discussed.
• [17:33]–[23:29]: Surveillance, harassment, and media complicity; cases of student and faculty persecution.
• [23:29]–[25:38]: Jewish student experiences and generational divides within the Jewish community.
• [25:40]–[28:42]: Impact of academic receivership.
• [28:42]–[31:26]: Influence of pro-Israel officials in academic administration.
• [31:26]–[39:32]: The humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Western complicity, and collapse of international norms.

Conclusion & Takeaways

• Far-reaching Consequences: The crackdown on academic freedom and criticism of Israeli policy in US universities is both a symptom and an accelerant of wider authoritarianism, with grave implications for free inquiry, minority rights, and US standing in the world.
• Generational & Media Shifts: Younger Americans and alternative media sources are increasingly challenging official narratives, but established institutions double down on surveillance and suppression.
• Collapse of International Norms: The catastrophic situation in Gaza, and the legal, moral, and political abandonment by Western powers, signals the erosion of the postwar world order and the dangers of unchecked power.

For Further Information:
Chris Hedges: chrishedges.substack.com