Webinar
Advocating for Academic Freedom at the University of Michigan
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
What is happening right now?
Why is it important?
What might come next?
What can we do to protect academic freedom?
Keynote
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel
A former criminal prosecutor and civil rights attorney, Dana Nessel was sworn in as Michigan’s 54th Attorney General on January 1, 2019. Her core initiatives have been fashioned in the image of her promise to Michigan’s residents: to give the Department of Attorney General back to the people that it serves.
Prior to being elected Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel served as a Wayne County Prosecutor for over a decade. In her private practice, she was lead attorney for the plaintiffs in DeBoer v. Snyder, a precursor to the landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which codified same-sex marriage and granted adoption rights to same-sex couples nationwide.
A graduate of the University of Michigan and Wayne State University Law School, AG Nessel lives in Southeast Michigan with her wife, Alanna Maguire, and their twin sons.
Webinar Speakers
Kentaro Toyama
Kentaro Toyama is W.K. Kellogg Associate Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and a fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. He is the author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology. Until 2009, Toyama was assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India, which he co-founded in 2005.
Professor Toyama is a member of the University of Michigan Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA), which is the executive arm of the University (Faculty) Senate and the Senate Assembly. On behalf of members of the Faculty Senate, SACUA advises and consults with the President, Provost, and other executive officers of the University on matters of policy and University concern that impact faculty interests.
Professor Toyama is also a Member at Large, and Immediate Past President, of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
Jesse
Capecelatro
Jesse Capecelatro is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. He serves on the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA) and the university’s research advisory committee (RAC). His research group studies fluid mechanics relevant to renewable energy, human health, propulsion, and space exploration.
Prior to joining Michigan in 2016, Dr. Capecelatro was a research scientist at the Center for Exascale Simulation of Plasma-coupled Combustion (XPACC) at the University of Illinois. He received a B.S. from SUNY Binghamton in 2009, a M.S. from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2011, and a Ph.D. from Cornell in 2014. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, NASA Early Stage Innovations Awards, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and the ASME Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal Award.
Eric L.
Veal, Jr.
Eric L. Veal Jr., a rising senior, is the University of Michigan Central Student Government President. He is currently working toward a dual degree in Political Science and Secondary Education, as well as a minor in Public Policy.
Mr. Veal is passionate about educational equity and securing a quality education for all students so that students are culturally and worldly competent. He made Illinois history when Governor JB Pritzker named him as the first student to co-chair a legislatively mandated committee. He also was the first African American President of the Illinois State Board of Education Student Advisory Council. Veal has additionally been committed to furthering the work of educational equity through speaking at conferences, schools, and a plethora of events.
Patty
Nolan
Patty Nolan is the Co-Chair of Crimson Courage. Crimson Courage is a group of Harvard alumni who have joined together to support and mobilize Harvard in championing academic freedom, constitutional and human rights, civil liberties and democracy in our country. They act with recognition of the integral role that academic freedom plays in protecting democracy and the vast contributions of higher education in improving the lives of Americans for generations.
Crimson Courage is alarmed by the growing attacks, especially from federal and state governments, against institutions of higher learning and the very foundations of academic freedom. They are also alarmed by the readiness of some institutions of higher learning to accede to arbitrary demands from the government, thus compromising academic freedom and constitutional rights, both as a result and in advance of pressure to do so.
Crimson Courage calls on Harvard and its alumni to stand up for autonomy in higher education, for academic freedom and for democracy.