captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy w ndruff. on tshour tonight: president trump signs an executive order tying universityesearch grants to campus free speech protections. th, a shift in decades of american policy in the middle east. the president says the u.s. will recognize israeli sovereignty overhe golan heights, one of the world's most disputed territories. plus, a culinary guide to the persian new year. an iranian chef on how food can help usher in spring >> for the last 35 years, i cooked outside of iran. but i had this fantastic dre to go back to iran. i want to cook with the cooks.nt i wa to share tables. >> woodruff: all that and more,

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>> woodruff: the death toll in the cyclone disaster on the african continent rose sharply today, to more than 550. the storm devastzied mozambique, abwe and malawi. john irvine of independent television news is i mozambique, where the desperation is growing. >> reporter: trying to restore order, at the point of an ak-47. ( gunfire ) but the people woun't be bpelled for long, driven y hunger. they knew that at last the local council had brought food to this municipal building, and they fought to get their hands on it. for many here in beira, it's been a long, starving week since the cyclone struck. >> no food! no food! felt threatened, the soldiery

tossed a sk of flour into the crowd-- so instead of fighting them for it, the people would fight each other for it. there wasn't nearly enough to go around. as well as everything else, there's a political dimension to what's going on here. mozambique's government does not eljoy much support in this area. and these peopleve the inadequate response is both deliberate and vindictive. o webeira, the land mass that has become a lakes roughly the size of luxemberg, m according to tt recent satellite imagery. this afternoon, itv news was invited on-board a government helinpter to the hard-hit tow of bouze, which is only accessible by air. it's clear that the damage done to buildings by the high winds is extensive, but a week on,

it's the water that's the persistent problem, forcing hundreds of people to take to rooftops to survive. the government wanted us here to tness this-- a visit by mozambique's president. he could be pictured with some of his most desperate people. all went well with this photo opportunity, until people realized that there was food supplies on board the presidential helicopter. the president claims hs doing all he can to respond to their desperation. the problem is, one week on, "all he can" doesn't look like nearly enough. >> woodruff: horrible. that report from john irvine, of independent television news. a crowded ferry sank in northern iraq today, killing at least 94 people, athey

celebrated the kurdish new yeary and mother's d the vessel capsized near mosul, ed the tigris river, where heavy rains and snowmelt strong current. families waited along the riverbanks, hoping for word of their loved ones. many of the victims were mothers and their children. in new zealand, the government today imposed an immediate ban on sales of military-style semi-automatic guns, and high- capacity ammunition magazines. prime minister jacinda ardern made the announcement six days after a gunman used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 50 people at two mosques in christchurch. >> i absolutely believe there will be a common view amongst new zealanders, those who use guns for legitimate purposes, and those who have never touched one, that the time for the massa an availability of these weapons must end. >> woodruff: ardern said sheme expects parl to act eaickly to ban both sales and

possession of suchns. the ban excludes smaller-caliber guns commonly used by hunters and farmers. there are more questions aboutw cebook handled the new zealand shooter's live-streamed video. the "wall reet journal" reports that the company waited half an hour to remove the video after a user flagged it. serately, facebook also acknowledged today that it stored millions of user passwords in plain, readable text, for years. the company says there is no evidence that anyone misused the data. liflorida man accused of m package bombs to some of presidt trump's most vocal critics pled guilty today in a federal court in manhattan. cesar sayoc has been held without bail since his arrest last october. the mailings targeted former o president barama, former democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton, and billionaire george sos, among others. none of the bombs went off.

flood dama is still spreading in parts of the u.s. midwest, with new warnings of what's yet to come. cies and towns down the missouri river were poised today for flood crests tarrive in the days ahead. the high water already swamped farms, homes and roads across nebraska and iowa. water was still rising in parts of miss oouri, as localicials awaited the worst. >> every flood that comes aong anymore ew record, it just eps getting higher and higher. after the last flood, they came around and said, "well, if you build above this levu'll be protected with flood insurance." well, everyone pretty much did it wasn't high enough this time. there's going to be a lot of disaster out there. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the national oceanic and atmospheric admistration said today that there could be unprecedented major flooding across most of the nation this spring. the commandant of the u.s. marine corps, general robert neller, is warning that

military deployments to the southern border ordered by president trump, are threatening combat readiness and budgets. the "los angeles timports that he spelled out his concerns in two internal memos this week. he also cited funding ansfers brought on in part by the president's national emergency on the border. u.s. border patrol officials in texas have released hundreds of migrants from severely crowded detention centers. it is widely reported that n the2,200 were let go rio grande valley this week. most were families with children. word of the releases came as homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen visgied the today. >> the president has, more times than i can count, made it clear-- it is not the policy of the united states to catch and release. it's not. but we are out of detention space. we need congress to change the laws. >> woodruff: local officls say they are being overwhelmed by the need to find shelter and food for the migrants. on wall street, a tech rally led

the broader market higher. the dow jones industrial average gained16 points to close at 25,962. the nasdaq rose 110 points, and the s&p 500 added 30. and, baseball star mike trout now has the richest contra ever, in north american team sports. the los angeles angels formally announced the 12-year deal last night, worth $430 mill trout is 27 yearalold, and ady one of the best players of his generation. congratulations. still to come on the newshour: president trump sign executive order on campus free speech. brexit hangs in the balance, ahead of next week's deadline. the u.s. will recognize israeli control of the golan heights. pollution clashes with anti-government feelgs in louisiana. and, much more.

>> woodruff: it was another day of high drama for brexit, as british prime minister theresatr maeled to brussels to meet european union leaders. her plan to leave the e.u. has now twicbeen voted down in parliament, and today, she sought an extension beyond next friday's march 29 deadline for the united kingdom to he bloc. as nick schifrin reports, there are many options ahead in this next, crucial week. >> schifrin: in these divorce proceedings, oneitide knows what ants.nt french presimmanuel macron... german chancellor angela merkel... and dutch prime minister mark rutte all endorsed a short brit extension, if, and only if, british parliament endorses the brexit pl >> we'll put it fairly and sqrely again at the door o the british parliament, because it is then for them to say yes to the wle thing.

>> schifrin: but breaking up is really, reallyard, when the other side is infighting. last night, british prime minister theresa may blamed britain's brexit paralysisn parliament. >> so far, parliament has done everything possible to avoidma ng a choice. >> schifrin: but much of parliament blames her.rt non-an parliament speaker john bercow: ng none of you is a traitor. all of you are dour best. i believe passionately in the institution of parliament, ingh the of members of thisnd house,n their commitment to their duty. >> at no stage did she pause to consider whether it is the way she is leading this government! >> schifrin: dominic grieve, a member of thpaesa may's tory y: >> she was simply zig-zagging all over the place, rather than standing up for where the

national interest mue. >> schifrin: but britain's political parties can't agree within themselves whe that national interest is, says former deputy assistant secretary of state for europe, heather conley. >> the challenge with this entire brexit is that it's no longer keeping parties together. it's in fact breaking them apart. >> schifrin: this will all come . a head over the next we today and tomorrow, the u.k. and european leaders meet in brussels.on onday and tuesday, prime minister may will ask parliament, for the third time, to endorse her brexit plan. option 1: may los 30 to 40 of her own conservatives, but gains support she hasn't had from northern irish coaliti partners, the democratic unionist party, and 30 to 40 opposition labour members. brexit proceeds, but at great political cost. >> what happens to the conservative party? it is likely, potentially, to break apart, after this deal is signed, because there's such deep division within the conservative party. but the labour party is equally strained, and they will fracture

along the lines of whether to remain close to the e.u., or leave it without a deal. >> schif the deal fails to pass parliament, at which point there are more unknowns: w don't know if she'll resign, if that vote is lost. we do not know if there will be a moti election.for a new we don't know whether we can turn to the european union and consider a much longer extension. >> schifrin: that leads to options three and ur: the u.k. asks for a longer extension to try to come to consensus; or, ae u.k. leaves the european union next friday,s scheduled, n thout a deal. >> the european un going to have to make a decision. whether they're going to allow a no-deal crashout, or they're going to return and offer an extension til the end of the year, for nine months. but in order to do that, the united kingdom is going have to participate in the european parliament elections.

again, that decision will split the conservative party deeply. >> schifrin: which means no matter what happens, the infighting will contin, as will the damage to britain that theresa may leads, admits foreign secretary jeremy hunt. >> brexit paralysis is incredibly damaging for the country. so she's appealing to m.p.s and saying all of us in parliament a have special responsibility, given that it's a hung parliament, to make sure we resolve this process. >> is the delay to brexit receptable? >> schifrin: todayporter tried to ask brexit defenderjo boris son to comment on the mess. sometimes it's easier to ride away. ckr the pbs newshour, i'm schifrin. >> woodruff: earlier this ternoon, president trump overturned decades of u.s. policy in the middle east by announcing that the u.s. we l now recognrael's sovereignty over the golan

c,ights. that is a strate0-mile strip of land on the syrian- israeli border which i captured during the 1967 six-day war. in a tweet, mr. trump said it was "of itical strategic and security importance to the state of israel and regional stability." it is a shift that could both have a major impact on amecan relationship with the arab world, and potentially boost the political fortunes of his close ally, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, ahead of next month's election in israel. netanyahu tweeted his thanks to mr. trum calling it a bold decision "at a time when iran seeks to use syria as a platform to destroy israel." the united nations, which has a monitoring force on the golan h heightds that it is occupied territory; its status has long been a key issue in arab-israeli peace talks.

here to talk about the implications of today's announcement is aaron david miller. he is a vice president and the director of the middle east prograat the woodrow wilson nter for scholars here i washington. aaron david miller, welcome back to the program. hat is the practical meaning of what the presides said today? >> i mean, largely, this is an act of willfuand purposeful domestic politics. i think it is in m'sr. tru interest as you alluded to, particularly as he moves toward 2020, to see benjamin netanyahu reelected as prime minister of israel. it's really good politics for mr. trump. i might add, we have intfrceded, personal experience, at least three times in israeli elections. >> woodruff: the united states has? >> under both republican and democratic administrations, yes. this is not a first, but this is the mosta bltant, willful, even brazen, transparent fort to do

something important and positivo mr. netanyahu 20-plus days away from a very critical election. >> woodruff: so political impact. what about policy imtact? does it haveaany mning on the ground? >> well, i think it probably will have less of an impact in the middle east. i think mr. kushner's peace plan -- >> woodruff: let me interrupt. that's the president's son-in-law who's been tasked with coming up with a peace plan between israel and the arab states. >> i think the channels of kushner's ultimate deal with mr. trump's ultimate deal plan coming to fruition are slim to ne. i don't think it's going to have a major impact there. i think what it will do,sa however, ition the notion, or americans sanctioning the notion that states and governments, this time the united states, can actually pport unilateral actions. it will give a clear advantage to mr. putin and the annexation of crimea.ld

it crovide a basis over time, should the current israeli government drift ever more rightward and decide a next or create a different relionship with the west bank. i might add, some will argue it simply recognizes reality, and there's a fair point here that, in fact, it's very unlikely, given the circumstances of the syrian civil war that the governrnt of isael, under any prime minister, will ever again consider trading the golan heights for just about anything, given what's happened in syria, e happenehat would hav had the israelis -- had we succeeded in the '90s and broke the agreements with the >> woodruff: right. so if i'm understanding you correctly, you're saying the golan hebahts were proy never going to be ton negotiating table anyway, but this permanently takes them off? >> i tell my kids "never" is a very long time. never arab-israeli peace, i would hate to t,say thaut the

reality is no israeli government, after what has happened over the last seven ars, in syria, particularly with the iranian hezbollah threat is kely to concede plan in exchange for peace with -- that's toblem. but i think recognition of reality is not a compelling reason to endorse unilateralism or annexatn of the golan. this was gratuitous, judy. no one was pushing the israelis t of th golan heights. there was no international pressure to force them to leave or even create significant political trouble for them.p mr. trd this, in my judgment, because it's good a politid because he wants to go down in history as the most pro israeli president in the history of the relationship. >> woodruff: in terms of helping benjamin netanyahu, you're saying because there was such a difference between

mr. netanyahu's position on this and his challenger? >> no. in f think mr. gantz, his challenger, will be hard pressed not to support this move. i think this could help. us my grandmother said about her chicken sop, it couldn't hurt. and the realities in a clo election where you have the majority of israelis agreeing with mr. trump that the golan should we main part of israel for securi reasons, economic reasons,ist an existential threat if it doesn't, this move will be very well and drive homr the very poin trump and mr. netanyahu want to drive home, that it's because of benjamin netanyahu and only because of mr. netanyahu that thela u.s.-israeli onship is as productive, as profitable and resilient under mr. trump's tenure. that's the image they want to createmaand ity well succeed. >> woodruff: aaron david miller of the woodrow wilson

center. thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: as almost all of us have noticed, americans have been growing more and more politically divided. now, a new survey by the pew research center finds that americans believe that polarization will deepen in the coming decades. our economics correspondent, paul solman, is just back from h louisiana, whelooked at some of those big divides-- andr particul with regard to jobs, industry, and how to regulate industrial pollution. it's part of our weeries, "making sense." >> reporter: what do you make of arlie? >> one of the best persons that come to know. >> reporter: but she's a liberal. >> she's a communist! she's from berkeley, california. >> reporter: in 2011, arlie hochschild trekked from the ep blue berkeley hills o

california to bright red cal-cashu parish, louisiana. >> i lived in a blue bubbl i wanted to get into a redhi bubble, and be it, i was wondering about this red state paradox. >> reporter: it was the supposed paradox that prompted chschild, a prominent sociologist, to make 14 trips he, and resulted in her 20 best-seller, "strangers in their own land: anger and mourning on the american right." >> it is the poorest states, those with more high school dropouts, higher crime res, more pollution, lower life expectancies-- are also those states that receive more money from the federal government in aid than they give to it in tax dollars, and revile the federal government. that's the red state paradox. >> reporter: and louisiana, she me to believe: >> ...turns out to be an exaggerated version of the red state paradox.th it isecond poorest state in the union.

it has a life expectancy fiven years less tnnecticut. more like nicaragua. 44% of the state budget comes from the federal government. >> repter: so why do so many here hate government so much? because, hochschild thinks, they feel betrayed by it, most immediately, at the state level. >> the state of louisiana, for example, which is dominated byry the oil induhas permitted louisiana to become highly polluted. they feel that companies, at least, are giving jobs, even though the companies are doing the polluting. but the state is paid to protect them, and it i >> reporter: to make the point, one of hochschild's book subjects, environmentalist mike tritico, took us on a toxic tour of the lake charles area, starting with the terstate-10 bridge over the calcasieriver.

>> all of this that we're crossing over is contaminated with ethylene dichloride, a synthetic, manmade chlorinated hydrocarbon that is toxic and destroys the clay. it collapses the crystals, which means that underneath that bridge, there is not sufficient support. >> reporter: the contamination was first reported in 1994. but, since they can't replace the bridge because of the chemical's effects, the latestsi plan: a susp toll bridge over the troubled waters. >> it'd be like the golden gate bridge, that k>>d of scale. reporter: does driving on it make him nervous? >> i don't go across it unless i have to. >> reporter: in nearby sulphur, ana, named for the sulfu mines down below, a landfill is accepting hazardass waste from ar away as hawaii. how hazardous? >> the most dangerous mole iles evented >> reporter: how come it comes here? se>> because they got themes grandfathered in before the louisiana regulations were developed. w

and th before some of the federal regulations, like hazardous and solid waste act. >> reporter: meanwhile, dotting the sky... w many flares around here? >> i don't know. dozens and dozens. >> reporter: andhat are they burning? >> usually it's off-spec products. and they can't sell it. they just bu it off and try to start over and do a more pure product. >> reporter: in westla, around the corner from the old p.p.g. plant that makes silicas forse in tires and footwear, and right across the street from the new lah-tay chemical plant that makes ethylene glycol for use in antifreeze and polyester, hochschild took us to a pair of her subjects, now friends. annette and harold areno live in what used to be paradise forem cypress-proud bayou d'inde. how come the cypresses aren't here anymore, the fish aren't here anymore? >> they all died. >> reporter: as industry bloomed all around them.

>> we had fish kills from the chemicals that were getting in the water. >> yeah, killed the trees, killed the fish, killed the ogs, killed the turtles, killed everything. everything big enough to die. >> reporter: well, you must have complained. >> it didn't do any nobody heard you. >> reporter: though there are nn warning p.c.b.-drenched bayou d'inde, poisoned years back, was named a federal superfund site in 2003. the polluters have been ordered to pay for cleanup, but there's no plan yet. meanwhile, the side effects of industry continue. fe it wasn't a long time ago when that tower ll, all that pollution me in here so thick. >> reporter: a plume of carcinogenic vin chloride from a 2013 explosion at the nearby axiall plant. did anybody come and explain what happened? >> no, no. >> and no one has ever come and said, "we need to get you people out of here." >> this is my family. we had ten in the family. >> reporter: what's happened to

all these brothers andisters? >> most all of them died or had cancer. and this is my sister, that just died within about the last month. >> reporter: harold areno has also had cancer, though he acknowledges there's no hardhe evidencehemicals caused it. who do you blame for this? do you blame the companies that are around here? do you blame local government? >> see, government wants all this stuff, but government don't have to live in it. ite people that's living i have got to tolerate all the noise, the pollution and everything that's been destrod. >> we've had democrat governorwe e had republican governors.n' i haseen much difference in our situation. >>lieporter: now, many of ar hochschild's sources, though they too have become friends, dispe the claims of unusual environmental degradation in louisiana.

the arenos' niece, janice areno, ardent champion of the g.o.p., is a conservative who thinks the federal government has made too much of an effort. on climate change, for instance: >> i think it's a whole big rip- off. i don't think that we are doing things to the climate that's making the arctic melt. or i mean, i mean, look at northern united states, is all snowed in right now. >> reporter: as for the state's pollution and health record... >> people have cancer all over the united states. there's been studies on it and some, some have said, but, wee also lving the industry here. and, and over the years,ots of things have been done to change the emissions and to change the regulations about what goes up in the air or what they're exposed to on the job. >> reporter: if you do get hurt ,off the job or you're si aflac will pay you until you can me back, for up to two years. insurae broker and republican

yactivist sharon galicia another of hochschild's sources, who disagrees with her. >> we're not saying, just go ahead and pollute everything.e but i feel lere's too much government overreach in our everyday lives, and... >> reporter: examples? >> well, guns. we're very big hunters downns here, lots of we want to buy the guns we want to buy. don't tell me how much ammunition i can have.he th care or not health care. they want to buy it if they want t, not because they have to. if they want a ct gets ten miles to the gallon, they want to buy a car that gets ten miles to the gallon. >> reporter: there's a general sentiment around here-- i don't orknow if you guys share i not-- that government's the problem. >> louisiana government or just the government in general? because, i mean, the state is broken. i mean, that's why theays look like they do, and that's why the i-10 bridge is probably one of the top ten worst bridget world. >> reporter: and whose fault is that? >> the state? i an, we pay our taxes. >> reporter: so in the end, what's hochschild's conclusion about the red state paradox: at government is so widely resented?

>> it's a colonized state. 's colonized by oil, gas, petrochemicals. and the government does what it does at the behest of these. larger interes >> reporter: to republicans though, the larger interests are those of liberal federal ideologues, who "overreach on social issues" and dictate orders to local agencies like louisiana's department of environmental quality. >> 30 cars came to take a picture of a little diesel spill. i just think there's too many people, too many bureaucrats. i believe it could be run a lot more efficiently with less people. >> reporter: so, no red state for the likes of sharon galicia, because it's the swamp ba washington, d.c. that needs draining, not the us of louisiana. but tell that to the arenos. for the pbs newshour, economics correspondent paul solman, reporting from cal-cashu parish, louisiana.

>> woodruff: it is a question playing out college campuses across the country-- when it comes to free speech, are tconservative students hea different standard than their liberal counterparts? amna nawaz begins our coverage. >> nawaz: with a strokhe pen, president trump issued an ultimatum to u.s. colleges. >> universities that want taxpayer dollars should promote free speech, not silence free speech.az >> nthe executive order signed today requires colleges to certify that their policies support free speech condition to receiving federal chsearch grants. it does not affectls' access to federal financial aid for student tuition. esident trump first proposed the idea to a gathering of conservatives in washington earlier this month.>> e believe in free speech, including online and including on campus.

>> nawaz: he brought on-stage a conservatiivist hayden r lliams. >> if they want llars-- and we give it to them by the billions-- they've got to allow people like hayden and many otr great young people, an old peop, to speak. >> nawaz: in february, williams was recruiting ons u.c. berkelempus when he got into an altercation with this man, who then punched williams in the face.es that man was ad and charged with assault, and the university condemned the attk. williams spoke to the newshour while in washington earlier this month. >> i think there's a culture on college campuses that sort of promotes one side over the other. you know, conservatives are the minority on college campuses across the country.>> awaz: but the incident re-ignited the campus free speech debate, with a focus on conservative voices. in 2017, u.c. berkeley saw a

- ries of protests after conservative voiceme ntroversial, like milo yiannopoulos, ann coulter and ben shapir-- scheduled events. many of the events were either postponed or canceled. that october, u.c. system president janet napolitano told msnbc, free speech is an essential part of its core principles. >> i think that we have to do a much better job of educating our young people about what th first amendment protects, what it means, and how-- once you start restricting speech, you are on a slippery slope. and so, we are educators, and that should be part of our mission. >> nawaz: even some in the president's own cabinet, like education secretary betsy devos, have argued against federal inrvention: >> the way to remedy this threat co intellectual freedom on campuses is not lished with government muscle. a solution w't come from defunding an institution of learning or merely getting the words of a campus policy exactly

right. >> nawaz: today, the trump administration says it will be holding universities to that mission. officials say implementation details will be out in the coming months. let's further plore the state of free speech on college campuses, with jerry falwell jr. he's the president of li, rty universid was at the white house today as president trump signed this executive order.an and,rd ungar. he's the director of the free speech project at georgetown university, and the president emeritus of goucher college. welcome to you both. thank you for being here.>> hank you so much. >> reporter: sand syrian-israeli, you and your team document incidents of chee speing restricted. you wrote an opinion piece there's an epidemic of challenges to free and open expression. do you support what the president did today? >> i do not think whe president did today has any particular meaning at all. we, our free speech project at georgetown, are examining incidents where free expression is challenged around the country

in several different categories. we've ht morean 200 of them now on our online tracker, and what we find is that speech is challenged across the political this image, the stereotype, the cliche that it's primarily noble conservative thought being challenged by craze syrian-israeli, fanatical liberal students and professors just doesn't bear out, the facts don't support it.th it's been -e are many instances where conservative speech was challenged and thet get a attention. some of the people that were ina your pie well known, they go, they expect disruption, ther ene disruption, and they get it, but a lot of the erdisruption of othinds of speech, mainstream speech, factual speech, liberal speech on cam pulses, it's disrupted, and it doesn't attract the same kind of att'tention, doeave the sort of lobbying force behind it.nk so i don't the president -- i would like to believe that th president wants

to protect all speech on campus. >> jerry fallwell, jr., i'mu, going to ask speaking from a conservative perspective, do you think conservative voices are not supported, are they ba more? >> i think former new york cit beelike bloomberg in his commencement speech in harvard said best a few years ago when he said the faculty and staff o ivy league schools, 96% of them donated to the obama campaign. st can't be awe guide the staff and faculty at mot elitist universities are one-sided in their vipoints and it's the liberal side. so how that translates into whether or not they alrelow speech, you hear examples all the time of how conservative ideas are just nt given the same respect that liberal ideas are given. >> well, we hear examples all the time, you heard what san dijust said, are we talkingr

about thembecause they get more attention? >> it's 96%. 'm not sure that'sa meaningful statistic. what's the remedy if you have a lot of professors on campuses sympathetic or giving to democratic causes? >> well, mayor bloomberg wasti chd -- >> whether it's mayor bloomberg or anyone else, he has no special credibility on this matter. how would you sust -- >> reporter: jerry fallwell, jr., in the president'ses exon today, the idea that all free speech will be protected, do you believe that everyone should be granted a platform? >> yes. tomorrow alan dirshowits, our speaker for 2,000 students who attend, he one example. jimmy carter was our

commencement speaker. bernie sanders spoke at liberty and was given utmost spect by students even though they didn't agree. >> that's the wait should be. there should be ideology diversity. i always invited speakers from across the polit of course we should do that. i don't favor shouting down any speakers. but my point is just that thise ot just a problem on one side. if you listen to it with bot rs open and both -- and you watch it with both eyes open, there's a problem across political spectrum. >> repter: let me put this question to you, san di, if you don'mind -- it's true conservative students are an idlogical minority on mot campuses. >> that's probably true. >> reporter: is it incumbent on university systems to make sure the rights of that minority including free speech are protected? >> of course, we should protect e free speech rights of all students on campuses. i think we deal too much in stereotypes and cliches.

first of all, i don't think allu , students, faculty, staff,sh citizensld be compelled to reveal whether we're on one side or the other. it's much me complicated than that, and i think students, when you have discussions, since i teach now at two universities, and when you you hav conversations with students, you discover their views are not sop easigeon holed when you spend meaningful time with the everyone comes to college with a different idea of what free speech means and wih try individual impressions, and i think it's rikick cows laos to try to categorize what percentage. how do we find that out? do we take a survey? >> let me ask you the idea about free speech. a lot is definition, the idea when free speech goes into hate speech or discriminatory speech, that that should not be given at rm. for example, a lot of the ideas that may be held by som conservative speakers who have been shouted down before are

bigoted against gay or trans americans. >> that's why there's the first amendment. who decides what's hate speech in when you have 96% of one persuasion making the decision, it comes down lopsided. >> reporter: you go back tost that sta again, but as someone in charge of saying who gets a platform and who doesn't, where do you draw the line? >> we invite a lot of liberal speakers who don't come because they know liberty is conservative. you don't have to be a coervative to attend at liberty. > students reason not categorizable. at harvard, there's no way to predistrict the polital -- >> students, a lot of them haven't developed their political ideology. >> that's a od thing. because i know when i was in college, i was worried about what kind of job i was going to get, who i was going to marry, everything except politics. the older guys witeh the tis were the ones that made the

decisions anyway. >> reporter: you now're one to have the older guys th the ties, let me ask you both, as the persons who makes some of these decisions, how do you enforce something like this? where's the line between fre speech and something that could be potentially dangerous to yout ent body? >> the executive order curbs research dollars to the universities who do't permit free speech. i don't know how you define or police that. but i think the bigger problem is the federal stdent loan issue, and that's whatas discussed today. i think the president is going to go p a sterther very soon and try to sing out the badav actors whogone out of business, who have not given their students the education mised.ro you see, before 2010, it was guaranteed student loans. the ivate lenders were making the loans. the government was guaranteeing it. so the private lenders were making the profit.th then government took over. since they were guaranteeing it, anyway, i think they should have taken it over.

>> you think by the president tying this to financial means in some way it has a sense of mgency to it? we don't have mure than a minute left. >> one of the president's claims h that universities that don't respect free spe his terms -- we don't know what lerms those are -- who wil decide, who will make the list, whether him staying up late at night or some other process than that, that peoplwill be denied research funds? and my only fear about this --ca in general the executive order won't have much effect -- but my worry, is ultimately, important cancer research could beefunded because somebody offends milo who the president supports -o >> reporter:u share that concern? >> colleges don't operate like businesses. we operate like a business, our students leave with $6,000 less debt than the national average, and we have a lower -- our

default rate slower than the a nationerage. the elite schools don't want to operate like busin >> setting aside finances, we're here to talk about free speech, are you coicncerned overpg that language could lead to other things happening? >> i thi just allowing fr speech, you don't police. >> well, sure, but the president is threatening research funding, he ha usethat term. i would like more definition for what are the grouunds for ctting off important research, patriotic research, research to keep americans safe, health syrian-israeli, secure for the future becau, a, speaker was shouted down at a campus? w >> a speak disinvited. that would be reason to cut off the research? ll have tor: w leave it there. i thank you both for being there. jerry fallwell, r., sanford ungar. thank you. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: today is not only the first day of spring-- in astronomical terms, uie vernal x-- it is also the persian new year, or nowruz. elebrations are taking pl all over the world. now, jeffrey brown samples the festive menu of nowruz, with recipes from a new cookbook by a leading persian chef. it's part of "canvas," our regular arts and culture seriesu acally, every dish i make represents something. >> brown: the washington, d.c. home and kitchenth >> browne washington, d.c. home and kitchen of celebrated cook, najmieh batmanglij, as spe prepares aal meal. l, i'm making traditional persian new year m which i

making fish and it's spring lamb because some partsspf it, they eang lamb for the norooz. i love what i'm doing. i'm so lucky. and i cook with all my being and i cook with love and i love to have people that i care for.>> rown: najmieh is the author of eight cookbooks, including "food of life," a bible of sorts for persians living abroad. >> brown: she's also a personal r iend-- i've been lucky to dine at her table a nof times over the years, and hear stories of her growing up in tehran.me i er you telling me that you did not cook as a girl right. your mother wouldn't let you in the kitchen. >> yes. i always love to ck, but my

mother wouldn't allow me in the kitchen.sa she woul go to university, get your education. you will have plenty of time to cook.an she was right. >> brown: najmieh studied in the united states, and on graduation: i >> i returned n and she allowed me into her kitchen. finally, she said, come and learn from me. >> brown: after the 1979 iranian revolution she and her husband cehammad fled, first to fr one of the few countries that did not require a visa. >> i w very homesick and nostalgic, you know. i was pregna when we left iran and i was alone. i didn't speak french. so i needed to connect with my roots. i need to heal myself. >> brown: healing that came through cooking. >> i think when you're away from home, that aroma from yourhe childhood kitcis very important. you want to connect with that aroma.

fresh noodles... garlic. voila. >> brown: mohammed batmanglij, a helpmate and taster in the kitchen, also fosters persianro culture thugh his work as aie publisher of a and contemporary persian literature, in addition to najmieh's cookbooks. their new one, "cooking in iran," is the most ambitious-- based on her visits to the country starting in 2015, after

more than three decades of exile. you've done many books over the years, but for this one, you really wanted to retn to iran. >> yes. >> brown: why? >> for the last 35 years, cooked outside of iran. but i had this fantastic dream to go back to iranto travel throughout iran. i wanted to go from one region to another region. i wanted to cook with the cooks, to share table >> brown: hailed by the "new york times" as "an grossing visual feast," and "one of the best cookbooks of 2018," the book captur the sheer diversity of the country-a its popution, geography, and cuisine-- that amerivens rarely ha chance to see, or taste. how do you decide what to include in a book? you have to narrow it down.

>> what i wanted to present in this book, not repeat the same thing, unless the recipe was a little bit different from my original one that was imported.t and i wantshow a persian s od is not just kabob. >> brown: americve one idea of iran, which is mostly based on the politics between the two countries. how important was it to you to show a different side? iranian people are very hospitable, kind and educated, and i wanted to share that side of iran. what touched my heart the mosret he women of iran. nothing would happen without iranian women as a backbone of the country, i think. >> brown: insight into the country, and a great meal. >> perfect! my name is najmieh batmanglij. happy norooz, or happy new year to everyone.

>> woodruff: what a treat. aand on instagram, we hav persian new year recipe for you to try at home: a yogurt and persian shallot dip. you can nd us on instagram, @newshour. woodruff: franklin leonard is a founder and c.e.o. of the black list. the company is best known for supporting screenwriters through ts annual survey of the b unproduced screenplays in hollywood. in tonight's "brief but spectacular," leonard explains how the list has graduallyed introdollywood to a diversity of new ideas and voices. >> i was a jior executive in leonardo dicaprio's production company. the job was to find greatre plays, and i wasn't doing a very good job with that. so, i took a survey of my peers in the industry and said, "send me a list of your ten favorite scripts that haven't been produced. in exchange, i will se you the combined list," and that's what

i did. the scripts that were on the list became movies, anthose movies became very successful. >> i called it the black list because it's a double referee. it's a tribute to the writers who lost their careers during ae black list of the mccarthy era, and it was al inversion of the notion that black somehow signified bad. what if there was k list that people wanted to be on? the black list website allows anybody on earth to upload their english language screenplay, and in addition, you can pay a small fee to have that script evaluated by a reader who has experience reading screenplays in hollywood.if the script is well received, receives, let's say an eight out spread theetter, good news of the script to over 4,000 industry members that range from assistants at the major agencies all the way up to studio presidents, ad ist actors rectors. there've been over a thousand screenplays on the annual blacve list s more than 300 had been produced. those movies have won more than 50 oscars and more than 200 nominations.

four of the last nine best pictures were black list "ripts: "argo," "spotligh "slumdog millionaire" and "the king's speech." and, t of the last 22 screenwriting oscars have gone to annual black list scripts. so it no longer matters whether you live in geles. it no longer matters what you look like, who you know. wh matters fundamentally i can you write a great screenplay that someone wants to turn into a movie? we're a catalyst for attention by saying, "hey, everybody, everybody says this is goo" it makes everybody say, "maybe i should take a second look." i don't think hollywood is inherent racist or sexist, any more than america is racists orexist, which is to say that historically, power has been acreded into the hands of a small group of people who come from very similar backgrounds. usd until that power is dispersed and ine, it's hard to imagine a system that that isn't racist, sexist and many other things. the industry is making a subset of material based on a set of convenonal wisdom that is all

convention and no wisdom. and, as a consequence, the industry as a whole is not as profitable as it could be. my name is franklin leonard, and this is my "brief but spectacular" take on the black list. >> woodruff: and you canad watctional "brief but spectacular" episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief: and this nne of our recent stories took a tragic turn this week. jerri clark recounted emotional episode about her son calvin, who suffered from mental illness. in that piece, she argued how the justice and healthcare systems exacerbated his illness. calvin died by suicide in st. louis the other day. he was 23 years old. jerri toldur reporter that "every crack in the system that led to this is what killed my son." for anyone watching this, who is struggling with a mental illness, jerri suggest you visit her facebook group,

"momi," m-o-m-i, "mothers of the mentally ill." if you click on the notes sections of that page, you will find helpful resources, including links to the national alliance on mental illss, where you can find your local affiliate. and you can find our episode of jerri clark on our homepage, www.pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.on join une, and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at thean pbs newshour, you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the land mark hotel. i'm scared. we all are. 'll get through this. we must stick together. >> hotel mumbai, rated r. >> babbel. a language program that teaches anish, french, italian, german, and more.

>> consumer cellular. >> bnsf railway. >> american cruise lines. >> and with the ongoing support of these ititutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation forc puroadcasting. and by contributions to your pb statom viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by ll newshour productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

hello, everyone. and welcome to "amanpour & company." here is what's coming up. >> 10,000 people are scrambling to tet to the of trees and rooftops. >> africa's killer cyclone. 1,000 feared dead. neighbors are affected, ettoo. we an update from ground zero and the climate change connection. plus - >> there's no shame. >> the ugly reality of terrorism. new zealand mourns. we look back a theeadly attack on mumbai in a movie. >> n matter what version of hell we implement through policy at theborder, people are going to endure it to get to the other side. former border patrol