The 2025 Daniel W. Kops Lecture: Prestige Without Purpose

A couple weeks ago, the Cornell community gathered in a small classroom in White Hall for what was advertised on Cornell’s website as the Daniel W. Kops ‘39 Freedom of the Press Lecture.

The setting was quite modest: around forty attendees, mostly faculty and graduate students. The introduction began by highlighting the Kops family’s support, the theme of “freedom of the press,” and the lecture’s alleged interdisciplinary value. But, what followed, raised a quite uncomfortable question: has the Kops lecture drifted so far from its mission that it now amounts to an expensive annual vanity project?

A Talk About Everything–Except the Press

The speaker, Dr. Aziz Rana, professor of law at Boston College launched into a dense discussion of America’s constitutional development. Concepts and ideas like “credal constitution,” “tyranny,” and the “New Deal” filled the room. In fact, Rana’s talk spanned from Reconstruction all the way to the 2008 Financial Crisis.

There was a brief aside about the modern media structure; mentioning how conglomerates and billionaire owners have shaped the modern press in this nation, but otherwise, the press was quite absent. Instead of journalism-proper, the talk became a sweeping reflection on constitutional collapse and the dangers of Trump-era politics.

In an amazing turn of events, the lecture which was promoted and celebrating the “freedom of the press” had quite little to say about the press at all.

The Price Tag

Next, the Kops Lecture is not free. While Cornell does not publish the exact figures, a typical honoraria for speakers of this caliber typically fall between $7,500 to $15,000, not including travel and lodging. For reference, this is more than the annual budget of the great-majority of most student-run organizations on campus. 

The endowment for the Kops Lecture was donated in 1990 when Daniel and Nancy Kops sold their chain of radio stations. Cornell endowment accounts established in that year have grown by 167% until today. Although their gift was not enough to endow a professorship, it was enough to fund an honorarium comparable to the cash awarded with a Pulitzer Prize.

Mission Drift

This year’s event certainly was not an outlier. In more recent years, the Kops Lecture has moved further and further away from its original purpose. Instead of editors, journalists, or first-amendment litigators, the series has increasingly featured academics, advocates, and those whose work is tangentially connected to the freedom of the press. For example, in 2022, Cornell invited an indigenous author of an article about “land grab” universities that allegedly stole land from indigenous tribes. In 2024, the Kops Lecturer was Kenneth Deer, an indigenous Canadian who discussed a standoff between his tribe and the Canadian police.

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But, to his credit, Professor Rana later emphasized that he sees press freedom as “an essential component” of the mid-20th century constitutional order. He argued that the press was once “a space for reflection and dissent” and functioned as an indispensable institution vital to society. He also explained that modern media consolidation makes it harder for the press to remain autonomous from powerful actors.

Yes, these are powerful and persuasive points, but they certainly were not the centerpiece of the lecture. Students in White Hall did not leave with a deep understanding of the First Amendment nor the freedom of the press, but rather with a crash course in constitutional theory. The audience sensed that Professor Rana gave his stock leftist critique of the Constitution rather than writing an original talk about press freedom.

Students Left Wanting 

When the daily headlines debate whether the Federal Communications Commission should be allowed to use its power indirectly to suspend Jimmy Kimmel or cancel Stephen Colbert, students yearn for an objective discussion of press freedom. Instead of inviting yet another speaker with a far-left bias, why not invite an A-list speaker such as Kimmel, Colbert or the FCC Chair, Brendan Carr?  If nothing else, Cornell should contract with its Kops Lecturers to give an original talk on the topic of press freedom.