Harvard Law Professor and Bloomberg Columnist Noah Feldman to Speak at OU During Free Speech Week

As part of the University of Oklahoma’s celebration of Free Speech Week, OU will host a discussion featuring Harvard law professor, author and constitutional scholar Noah Feldman, who will discuss threats to free speech in the age of social media.

Feldman’s talk is set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, in Meacham Auditorium in the Oklahoma Memorial Union, 900 Asp Ave., on the OU Norman campus.

Widely recognized as one of the great legal minds of our time, Feldman specializes in constitutional studies, with particular emphasis on power and ethics, design of innovative governance solutions, law and religion, and the history of legal ideas. Outside of academia, he writes a weekly column for Bloomberg Opinion and is the resident legal scholar for Axios. His podcast, Deep Background, explores the historical, scientific, legal and cultural context behind the biggest stories in news, with a focus on ethics and power.

“Highly respected as a trustworthy arbiter of the Constitution, Noah Feldman is a keen observer of the top legal issues of the day and their impact on our everyday lives,” said OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. “The advent of social media has ushered in many complexities that blur the lines between the freedoms and limitations of online expression. As a Harvard constitutional scholar, Mr. Feldman will offer a particularly timely message on an issue with global implications, and we welcome him as an integral part of Free Speech at OU.”

At Harvard University, Feldman is Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and Senior Fellow of the Society of Fellows. In 2018, he founded Ethical Compass, a consulting firm that advises clients like Facebook and eBay on how to improve ethical decision-making by creating and implementing new governance solutions. In this capacity, he first proposed the idea of Facebook’s Oversight Board, an independent body that reviews the company’s content decisions with respect to online speech.

Feldman is the author of 10 books, including his latest, The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery and the Refounding of America. His 2020 book, The Arab Winter: A Tragedy, was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; and Publishers Weekly hailed Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR’s Great Justices as “a first-rate work of narrative history that succeeds in bringing the intellectual and political battles of the post-Roosevelt Court vividly to life.”

He also writes for The New York Book Review and was a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine for nearly a decade.

Feldman earned a bachelor of arts from Harvard and a doctorate in Islamic thought from Oxford, where he graduated as a Rhodes Scholar. He also earned his juris doctorate from Yale Law School and served as a law clerk for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter and for Chief Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Limited seating is available by reservation for OU students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the public. For reservations, more information and accommodations, email specialevents@ou.edu or call (405) 325-1701.

About Free Speech Week

The third week of October marks Free Speech Week, a national non-partisan celebration of First Amendment rights. OU will observe Free Speech Week Oct. 17-23, offering events and programming that emphasize the fundamental freedoms of thought and expression guaranteed by the Constitution. For more information, visit ou.edu/freespeechweek.