Universities pride themselves on teaching students to think freely. But when thought turns to action, the backlash from conservatives — and college administrators — is often stiff and swift, says historian Lauren Lassabe Shepherd. Also: Democracy in Danger is ending, even as our fight goes on.

The power of white evangelical leaders in the United States has reached a kind of zenith. President Trump helped make their dreams possible — but Sarah Palin before him laid the rhetorical groundwork, historian Anthea Butler says. So did a little-known Supreme Court ruling in 1971.

Listen to an edited version of the live show we taped this month with two media experts, all about the trial in our hometown against leaders of the white power movement.

According to Syracuse University media scholar Whitney Phillips, information pathways run as deep and interwoven as the roots of redwood trees, and when they’re contaminated it threatens the whole forest.

The core safeguards of the Voting Rights Act are unraveling. We’ve been here before, historian Carol Anderson tells Will and Siva. But Americans won’t sit by as their ballots are shredded.