Sarah McLaughlin
FIRE Staff Speaker
Sarah graduated magna cum laude from Drexel University in 2014 with a B.S. in political science and a minor in history. She is Senior Scholar, Global Expression at FIRE and analyzes the relationship between free expression in the United States and global censorship. She is also the author of the book Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025.) Her writing about global free speech issues has been featured in publications including Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, MSNBC, Times Higher Education, and The Los Angeles Times.
Recent Writings
- Finnish Supreme Court fines politician for hate speech over religious pamphlet,
- The UK is testing digital curfews. Social media bans for teens might be next.,
- ‘From the river to the sea’ is now a criminal offense for millions of Australians. Arrests are underway.,
- Lies in politics are bad. That doesn’t make Wales’ new plan to criminalize them a good idea.,
- Spain’s new AI ‘hate’ tracker raises familiar risks for online speech,
- Iran war triggers calls for censorship in UK as higher ed regulator seeks to monitor ‘extremism’,
- Northern Ireland to consider abolishing blasphemy law,
- Hamit Coskun wins Quran-burning case, but threats to free expression linger in UK,
- Netflix and…chilled? New UK rules target ‘harmful or offensive’ streaming content,
- Australian police raid Canberra bar’s artwork under new counter-extremism legislation,
Host a FIRE Speaker
Hosting a FIRE speaker is a great way to catalyze social change by educating members of your community about the importance of free speech, due process, and religious liberty.
Explore Our Work
FIRE is a mission-driven organization of hardworking, dedicated team members committed to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought.
Explore FIRE's Advocacy