Mehdi Hasan, a former MSNBC journalist and founder of the media company Zeteo, spoke at UT on Saturday about universities suppressing pro-Palestinian voices and academic freedom.
Hasan criticized much of President Donald Trump’s policies regarding universities, including the compact, which the administration proposed in October to offer financial benefits in exchange for the University meeting certain requirements, in a conversation moderated by Maysum Syed, president of the Ahlul Bayt Student Organization. Hasan also spoke about the Trump administration’s treatment of pro-Palestinian students and Texas’ recent congressional redistricting.
Hasan said even those who may not be informed about Israel’s war on Hamas should pay attention, arguing President Trump’s “cracking down on dissent” will extend beyond speech that relates to the conflict. In January, the Trump administration signed an executive order to revoke the visas of some students who participated in pro-Palestine protests.
“You would hope college campuses are places where academic freedom, freedom of speech and freedom of thought still remains,” Hasan said. “There’s a reason why the Trump administration is targeting universities — because they know that in order to control discourse, control democracy (and) control the future, you have to control college campuses.”
Hasan criticized the Trump administration’s proposed compact to nine universities, including UT. He said it could be dangerous to require universities to provide information about international students to the Department of Homeland Security.
“The idea that you would further embolden and empower this administration is a huge mistake, and it would be shameful if UT is the one university that agrees to it,” Hasan said.
In September, Texas conducted a mid-decade congressional redistricting, which Hasan criticized and accused of gerrymandering.
“Only in America do politicians get to choose their voters,” Hasan said. “Rather than voters get to choose their politicians, they get to decide which voters are going to be in my district. It’s an insane and anti-democratic proposition.”
After the defeat of former Vice President Kamala Harris, Hasan said there will likely be a large pool of competitors for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. He criticized many Democratic politicians’ pro-Israel stance in the Israel war on Hamas, which Hasan has long called a genocide, and said the policy could affect their campaigns.
“The Democrats, who think that people will forget there’s a ceasefire, will move on, (and) it’ll all be forgotten, they’ve got it completely wrong,” Hasan said. “It will have a long tail.”
Near the end of the conversation, Hasan spoke about how to maintain hope in modern politics as a Muslim and someone with left-leaning political views. Hasan said his hope comes from his family, moral values and Islamic faith.
“My entire political, media, journalistic, professional (and) personal life is about ending injustice — fighting against inequality, injustice (and) people being mistreated,” Hasan said.
