Masih Alinejad during the event’s lecture portion (photos by Andrew Daddio)
On April 23, 2026, the Kraynak Institute for the Study of Freedom and Western Traditions, an on-campus forum dedicated to free speech and constitutional democracy, hosted Iranian-American journalist and women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad to speak to Colgate students in a lecture and private conversation. During the lecture, Alinejad shared her story with the audience along with a video clip of her highlights as an activist before participating in a moderated discussion with Carolyn Guile, associate professor of art and co-director of the Kraynak Institute.
Alinejad gained worldwide attention from her social media platform My Stealthy Freedom that began with a photo of her hair blowing in the wind and grew to showcase women across Iran removing their hijabs. This platform against compulsory hijabs went viral, becoming a powerful civil disobedience campaign. She is one of the most prominent vocal opposition figures challenging the Islamic Republic of Iran through social media, her book The Wind in My Hair, and her attendance at the United Nations in January 2026 and the Geneva Summit in February 2026. Her recognitions include the U.N. Watch’s International Women’s Rights Award, the AIB Media Excellence Award, the Swiss Freethinker Association’s Freethinker Prize, and the American Jewish Committee’s Moral Courage Award.
Guile explained that the institute’s focus made Alinejad a natural fit for the event. “We are interested in free speech and freedom of expression. This event provided an opportunity to have a conversation about what that means in direct relation to a context where both of these things have been and continue to be severely limited, and as offered from the perspective of a person who is intimately familiar with those limitations and their consequences,” said Guile.
Alinejad drew a sharp contrast between American and Iranian realities: “Your fiction is our reality,” she said, referring to readers of The Handmaid’s Tale. She also appealed to both sides of American politics asking, “If the Left is all about women’s rights, where are you? If the Right is about freedom, where are you?”
Stepping back from the political, Alinejad offered a perspective on freedom shaped by its absence, pointing to the audience itself as an example: men and women together in a room, each free to think, speak, and dream, was not something she took for granted.
“Alinejad’s talk was a real reminder that we take our ability to speak freely for granted at a place like this, and that the consequences we might face for speaking out here are minuscule in comparison to people risking their lives just to be allowed to speak,” said Joseph Watkin ’29.
“As an Iranian living in the United States and a leading voice in movements challenging the Islamic Republic's leadership on women's rights and political speech, Ms. Alinejad is in a rare position to call out the regime’s violent repression and to do so through the lens of her own fight, and that of ordinary Iranians, for the rights and freedoms many Americans take for granted,” said Guile.