Geer is a senior advisor to the chancellor, head of Vanderbilt's Project on Unity and American Democracy, and co-director of Vanderbilt Poll at Vanderbilt University. Mchangama is a research professor of political science and executive director of The Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University. Americans’ views on free speech change directions every so often. One of those times was during the protests at U.S. universities about the Israel-Hamas war.