It’s 1985. Ethics professor Philip Hoffman and newly appointed Dean of Students Albert Becker already have a long history: they marched side by side for civil rights, registered voters together during Freedom Summer, and have maintained a friendship that crosses boundaries of race, religion, and country of birth. Now, they work at a small, liberal university, where part of the job is shaping a new generation of activists. But when a star student from the South Bronx challenges the administration and invites a controversial speaker to campus, free speech becomes a battle cry. Long‑festering inequities rise to the surface, and old friends are forced to see each other—and themselves—more clearly.