AALS has posted Penn State Dickinson Law Dean and 2026 AALS President Danielle M. Conway‘s presidential remarks from the 2026 Annual Meeting in New Orleans. From Dean Conway’s remarks setting out this year’s theme on AALS LENS:

I believe a principle upon which we can agree is that academic freedom is oxygen for knowledge work and workers. . . . Academic freedom is at its zenith when it is untethered from exclusivity, elitism, and hierarchy. If there is one thing that should be promoted holistically and democratically, it is an ameliorative understanding of academic freedom, and how that understanding supports teaching and learning communities that value inquiry with integrity, debate with dignity, and discourse with accountability.

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The theme —Emancipate. Academic. Freedom. — focuses the lens on higher education and law schools as sites of connection for education, intellectual inquiry, and knowledge advancement. It encourages deep thinking about the responsibilities of law schools to uphold democratic ideals, to resist pre-compliance, and to contest actions by those who would parlay power through political polarization, ideological censorship, and state interference.

Read the full address here: AALS, President’s Message – Emancipate. Academic. Freedom., AALS LENS, Feb. 10, 2026.