Yale College Council President Alex Chen introduced Professor David Blight at Tuesday’s teach-in: “We must ask ourselves, when will the university actually defend itself?” Around 250 Yale professors, students, alumni and faculty gathered on Cross Campus Tuesday afternoon for a teach-in and rally demanding administrators “democratize Yale,” as university President Maurie McInnis continues settlement talks with the Trump administration over the university’s admissions policies. Speakers with the American Association of University Professors, the Yale College Council, and the Yale Endowment Justice Collective, among other organizations, called for administrators to make trustee selection more transparent, repeal free expression restrictions that were implemented after 2024 campus protests, codify certain academic freedoms, and exit settlement negotiations with the Trump administration. “Yale is deeply committed to fostering open debate, preserving freedom of expression, and creating an environment in which a wide range of ideas can be expressed and heard civilly—principles articulated in Yale’s landmark Woodward Report and advanced through a wide range of campus initiatives,” a Yale spokesperson wrote in response to a request for comment. “These include the Yale Center for Civic Thought, established in May 2025 to promote thoughtful discourse; the Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech at Yale Law School, which promotes and safeguards free expression and academic freedom; and the work of the Committee on Institutional Voice, convened by President McInnis in September 2024 to consider how the university engages with issues of the day. Yale also has a long tradition of robust debate through organizations such as the Yale Political Union and a broad range of student groups representing diverse viewpoints,” the spokesperson wrote. Tuesday’s event came a month and a half after Mayor Justin Elicker and Senator Richard Blumenthal held a press conference at Yale urging administrators not to “fold” to pressure from the federal government. Click here to read a letter written by McInnis on July 13 in which she committed to “safeguarding academic freedom” amid Yale’s talks with the Department of Justice (DOJ). Tuesday’s teach-in was “was unregistered and used amplified sound, in intentional violation of University policies,” according to a press release from organizers. Since several students were arrested during pro-Palestine campus protests in 2024, administrators have implemented new restrictions on campus demonstrations — Downtown/Yale Alder Elias Theodore said organizers “made a point” not to register Tuesday’s event, although such events require approval from administrators. “We took precautions,” said Theodore, mentioning organizers brought wireless microphones, in case they were asked to vacate Cross Campus during the teach-in. “We know that there’s power in numbers.” “I can’t remember protests on campus that were bigger than these,” Theodore, a senior, said. “Students haven’t felt safe speaking and gathering on campus” in recent yeas, said Yale junior John Robert Walker, an organizer with the Endowment Justice Collective. Walker referred to an instance last spring when protesters with the Yale Student/Farmworker Alliance were asked to move a demonstration off-campus because they were not a registered student organization.  “Yale is cracking down on student free speech, negotiation with the DOJ over a baseless admissions investigation and refusing to codify academic freedom, all under the governance of an undemocratic Board of Trustees,” organizers wrote in a pamphlet distributed to attendees and new students on their way to a mandatory lecture “The University and Democracy.” “Right now, you don’t have the same rights that generations of Yalies have enjoyed!” Some speakers examined the history of free expression and student activism at Yale. New Haven City Historian Michael Morand recalled students’ “shantytown” organized on Beinecke Plaza in opposition to Yale’s investments in apartheid in South Africa. Others, including David Blight, author of Yale and Slavery: A History, implored students to get involved in local democracy by voting and protesting.  “I don’t remember a moment when people were not having rallies and demonstrations,” often more aggressive than Tuesday’s, said distinguished professor of history Beverly Gage, who stopped by the rally on her way to speak at the first year lecture on democracy and Yale. Gage and Blight both said what was “unprecedented” in their knowledge of the university was instead the pressure from the presidential administration.  Blight said during his remarks at the teach-in that in the future, people “will know a myriad of things that this regime did, to try to destroy the American experiment. And they just may do it. There’s more at stake here than one court settlement.” Yale professor and historian David Blight speaks at Tuesday’s “teach-in.” Brandon Cortes contributed to this report. City historian Michael Morand invoked Nelson Mandela during his remarks, quoting an inscription on Yale’s Beinecke Plaza: “Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.” Credit: Brandon Cortes photo The post Yalies Protest Potential Trump Deal appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less