captioning sponsored by inewshour product, llc f: >> woodrood evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: president trump signs an executive order tying university research grants to campus free speech protections. then, a shift in decades of american policy in the middle ea. the president says the u.s. will recognizisraeli sovereignty over the 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 dream to go back to iran. i want to cook with the cooks.sh i want to e tables. >> woodruff: all that and more,

on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ >> on a cruise with american cruise lines, you can experience historic destinations along the mississippi ver, the columbia river and across the united states.ic am cruise lines' fleet ofs small shipplore american landmarks, local cultures and calm waterways.er aman cruise lines, proud sponsor of pbs newshour. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> babbel.

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druff: the death toll in the cyclone disaster on the african continent rose sharply today, to more than the storm devastated mozambique, zimbabwe and malawi. john irvine of independent television news is in mozambique, where the desperation is growing. >> reporte trying to restore order, at the pot of an ak-47. ( gunfire ) but the people wouldn't be repelledor long, driven on by 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 .een a long, starving week since the cyclone struck >> no food!no ood! >> reporter: at time twhen they fehreatened, the soldier

tossed a sack of fur 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 ound. as well as everything else, there's a political dimension to what's going on here. mozambique's government does not enjoy much support in this area. heand these people believe inadequate response is both deliberate and vindictive. west of beira, the land mass that has become a lake is roughly the size of luxemberg, according to the most satellite imagery. this aernoon, itv news was invited on-board a government helicopter to the hard-hit town 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 witness this-- a visit by mozambique's president.he ould be pictured with some of his most desperate people. w all wentl with this photo opportunity, until peopled realhat there was food supplies on board the presidential helicopter. the president claims he's doin all he can to respond to their desperation. the problem is, one week on, "all he can" dnesn't look like ly enough. >> woodruff: horrible. j that report frn irvine, of independent television news. a crowded ferry sank in northern iraq today, killing at least 94 people, as they

celebrated the kurdish new year and mother's day. the vessel capsized near mosul, in the tigris river, where heavy rains and snowmelt fed a strong current. families waited along the riverbanks, hoping f word of their loved ones. many of the victims were mothers and their chilen. 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 massl and easy aility of these weapons must end. >> woodruff: ardern said she expects parliament to act quickly to ban both sales and

possession of such weapons. the ban excludes smaller-caliber gunsommonly used by hunters and farmers. there are re questions about how facebook handled the new zealand shooter's live-streamed. vi hee "wall street journal" reports thatompany waited half an hour to remove the video after a user flagged it. seperately, facebook also acknowledged today that it stored millions of u passwords in plain, readable xt, for years. the company says there is no evidence that anyone misused the data. a florida man accused of mailing package bombs to some of president 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 president barack obama, former democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton, and billionaire george soros, among others. none of the bombs went off.

flood damage is still spreading in parts of the u.s. midwest, with new warnings of what's ye to come. cities and towns down the missouri river were poised today for flood crests to arri in the days ahead.hi th water already swamped farms, homes and roads across nebraska and iow water was still rising in parts of missouri, as local officials awaited the worst. >> every flood that comes along anymore is a new record, it just keeps getting higher and higher. after the last flood, they came around and said, "well, if you build above this level, you'll be protected with flood surance." well, everyone pretty much did that. it wasn't high enough this time. there's going to be lot of disaster out there. >> woodruff: meanwhile, the national oceanic and atmoseric administration said today that osere could be unprecedented major flooding amost of the nation this spring. the commandant of the u.s. marine corps, general neller, is warning that

military dloyments to the southern border ordered by president ump, are threatening combat readiness and budgets. the "los angeles times" reports that he spelled out his concerns in two internal memos this week. he also cited funding transfers brought on in part by the president's national emergency on the borde u.s. border patrol officials in texas have released hundreds of migran from severely crowded detention centers. it is widely reported that some 2,200 were let go in the rio grande valley this week. most were families with children. word of the releases came as homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen visited theay region t >> 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 ws. >> woodruff: local officials say they are being overwhelmed by the need to find shelter and food for theigrants. on wall street, a tech rally led

the broader market higher.th dow jones industrial average gained 216 points to close at. 25,9 the nasdaq rose 110 poin50, and me s&added 30. and, baseball ste trout now has the richest contract ever, in north american am sports. the los angeles angels formally announced the 12-year deal last night, worth $430 million. trout is 27 years old,y nd alreade of the best players of his generation.on congratula still to come on the newshour: president trump signs an execute 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 feelings in louisiana. and, much more.

>> woodruff: it was another day of high drama for brex british prime minister theresa may traveled to brussels to meet european union leaders. her plan to leave the e.u. has now twice been voted down in parliament, and today, she sought an exteion beyond next friday's march 29 deadline for the united kingdom to exit the bloc. as nick schifrin repts, there are many options ahead in this next, crucial week.ri >> sch in these divorce proceedings, one side knows what it wants. lfrench president emmanue macron... german chancellor angela merkel... and d prime minister mark rutte all endorsed a short brexit eension, if, and only if, british parliament endorses the brexit plan. >> we'll put it fairly and squarely again at the door of the brith parliament, because it is then for them to say yes to the whole thing.

>> schifrin: but breakg up is really, really hard, when the other side is infighting. last night, british prime minister theresa may blame britain's brexit paralysis on parliament. >> so far, parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice. >> schifrin: but much of parliament blames her. non-partisan parliament speaker john bercow: >> none of you is a traitor. all of you are doing your best. i believe passionately in the institution of parliament, in the rights of members of this house, and in 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 theresa may's tory party: s was simply zig-zagging all over the place, rather thar standing up ere the national interest must be.

>> schifrin: but britain's political parties can't agree within themselves where that national interest is, says form deputy assistant secretary of state for europe, heather conley. >> the challenge with this entire brexit is that o lor.er keeping parties toget it's in fact breaking them apart. >> schifn: this will all come to a head over the next week. today and tomorrow, the u.k. and european leaders meet in brussels. on monday and tuesday, prime minister may will ask parliament, for the third time, to endorse her brexit plan. option 1: may loses 30 to 40 of her own conservaves, but gains support she hasn't had from northern irish coalition 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

ong the lines of whether to remain close to the e.u., or leave it without a deal. >> schifrin: option number two: the deal fails to pass w parliament, ch point there are more unknowns: >> we don't know if she'll resign, if that vote is lost. we do not ow if there will be a motion to call for a new election. we don't know whether we can turn to the european union andns er a much longer extension. >> schifrin: that leads to options three and four: the k. asks for a longer extension to try to come to consensus; or, the u.k. leaves the european union next friday, as scheduledh t a deal. >> the european union is going to have to make a decision. whether ey're going to allow a no-deal crashout, or they're going to return and offer an extension until 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 continue, as will the damage to britain that theresa may leads, admits foreign secretary jeremy hunt. >> brexit paralysis iscr ibly damaging for the country. so she's appealing to m.p.s and saying all of us in parliament r have a speciesponsibility, given that it's a hung parliament, to make sure wero resolve this pcess. >> is the delay to brexit acceptable? >>chifrin: today, a report tried to ask brexit defenderto boris johnson omment on the mess. sometimes it's easier to ride away. for the pbs newshour, i'm nicksc frin. >> woodruff: earlier this afternoon, president trump overturned decades of u.s.th policy imiddle east by announcing that the u.s. will now recognize israel's sovereigy over the golan

heights. that is a strategic, 40-mile strip of land on the syrian- israeli border which israel captured during the 1967 six-day war. in a tweet, mr. trump said it was "of critical sategic and security importance to the state of israel and regional stability." it is a shift that could both have a major impact on american 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. trump, calling it a bold decision "at a time when iran seeks to use syria as a platform wh destroy israel." the united nationsh has a monitoring force on the golan heights, holds 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 announcent is aaron david miller. he is a vice president and the director of the middle east program at theoodrow wilson center for scholars here in washington. e aaron david miller, welcck to the program. what is the practical meaning of what the president has said today? >> i mean, largely, s an act of willful and purposeful domestic politics. i thinit is in mr. trump's interest as you alluded to, pa micularly as ves toward 2020, to see benjamin netanyahu reelected as prime minister of israel. it's really good poitics for mr. trump. i might add, we have interceded, from personal experience, at least ree times in israeli elections. >> woodruff: the united states has? >> under both republican and democratic administrations, yes. this is t a first, but this is the most blatant, willful, ev brazen, transparent effort to do

something important positive for mr. netanyahu 20-plus days away from very critical election. >> woodruff: so political what about policy imtact? does it have any meaning on the >> 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.e that's the psident's son-in-law who's been tasked with coming up with a peace pla between israel and the arab states. >> i think the channels of kushner's ultimate deal with mr. trump's ultimate deal pl coming to fruition are slim to none. i don't think it's going to have a major impact there. i think what it will do, however, is sanction the notion, or americans sanctning the notion that states and governments, this time the united states,an actually support unilateral actions. it will give a clear advantage to mr. putin and the annexation of crimea.

it could provide a basis over time, should te rrent israeli government drift ever more rightward and decide a next or create a different relationship 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,n gie circumstances of the syrian civil war that the government of israel, under any prime minister, will ever again consider trading the golan heights for just about anything, given what's happened in syria, imagine what would have happened had the israelis -- had we succeeded in the '90s and broke the agreements with the syrians. druff: right. so if i'm understanding you correctly, you're saying the golan heights were probably never going to be ton negotiating table anyway, but this permanently takes them off? >> i tell my kids "never" is a very long time.ve arab-israeli peace, i would hate to say that, but the

reality is no israeli government, after what has happened over the last seven years, in syria, particularly with the iranian hezbollah threat is likely to concede golan in excnge for peace with -- that's the problem. but i think recognition of reality is not a compelling reason to endorse unilateralism or annexation of the golan.s this w gratuitous, judy. no one was pushing the israelis out of the golan heights. there was no in pressure to force them to leave or even create significant political trouble for them. mr. trump did this, in my judgment, because it's good politics and because he wants to go down in story as the most pro israeli president in the history of the relationship. >> woodruff: in terlpms of g benjamin netanyahu, you're saying because there was tich a difference between

mr. netanyahu's po on this and his challenger? >> n in fact, i tnk mr. gantz, his challenger, will be hard pressed not to suprt this move. i think this could help. as my grdmother said abo her chicken soup, it couldn't hurt. and the reaeslin a close election where you have the majority of israelis agreeing with m trump that the golan should we main part of israel for security reasons, economic reasons,ist an existential threat ift esn't, this move will be very well and drive home the very point mr. trump and mr. netanyahu want to drive home, thf it's because benjamin netanyahu and only because of mr. netanyahu that the u.s.-israeli relationship is as productive, as profitable and as resient under mr. trump's tenure. that's the image they want to create, and i w mayell succeed. >> woodruff: aaron david miller of the w woodrlson

center. thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: as almost all of us have noticed, americans have been growing more and 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 fr louisiana, where he looked at some of those big divides-- and particularly with regard to jobs, industry, and how to ioregulate industrial poll it's part of our weekly series, "making sense." w >> reportet do you make of arlie? >> one of the best persons that i've come to>>now. eporter: but she's a liberal. >> she's a communist! she's from berkeley, california. >> reporter: in 2011, arlie hochschild trekked from the deep blue rkeley hills of

california to bright red cal-cashu parish, louisiana. >> i lived in a blue bubble. i wanted to get into a red asbble, and behind it, i w wondering about this red state paradox. >> reporter: it was the supposed paradox that prompted hochschi, a prominent sociologist, to make 14 trips here, and relted in her 2016 best-seller, "strangers in their own land: anger and mourning onn the ameright." >> it is the poorest states, those with more high school dropouts, higher crime rates, 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 llars, and revile the federal government. r that's t state paradox. >> reporter: and louisiana, she came to believe: >> ...turns out to be an exaggerated version of the red state paradox. p it is the secorest state in the union.

it has a life expectancy five years less than connecticut. more like nicaragua. 44% of the state budget comes om the federal government. s reporter: so why do so many here hate governmemuch? because, hochschild thinks, they feel betrayed by it, my,t immediatt the state level. >> the state of louisiana, for example, which is dominated by the oil industry, has 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 isn't. >> 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 interstate-1 bridge over the calcasieu river.

>> allf this that we're crossing over is contaminated with ethylene dichloride, a synthetic, manmade chlorinatedat hydrocarbon s toxic and destroys the clay. it collapses the crystals, which means that underneath that bridge, there is not sufficient support. ed reporter: the contamination was first reportn 1994. but, since they can't replace the bridge because of the chemical's effects, the latest plan: a suspension toll bridge over the troubled waters. >> it'd be like the golden gate bridge, that kind oftecale. >> rep does driving on it make him nervous? >> i don't go across it unless i ve to. >> reporter: in nearby sulphur, louisiana, named for the sulfur mines down below, a landfill is accepting hazardous waste from as far away as hawaii.ou how hazards? >> the most dangerous molecules ever invented >> reporter: how come it comes here? >> becau grandfathered in before the louisiana regulations were developed.

and that was before some of the feral regulations, like hazardous and solid waste act. >> reporter: meanwhile, dotting the sky... how many flares around here? >> i don't know. dozens and dozen >> reporter: and what are they burning? >> usually it's off-spec products. and they can't sell it. they just burn it off and try to start over and do a more pure product. >> reporter: in westlake, arounf the cornm the old p.p.g. plant that makes silicas for use 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 ofu heects, now friends. annette and harold areno live in what used to be paradise for them: 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 alaround them.

>> we had fish kills from theem als that were getting in the water. >> yeah, killed the trees,ki ed the fish, killed the frogs, killed the turtles, killed everything. everything b enough to die. >> reporter: well, you must have complained. >> it didn't do any good. nobody heard you. >> reporter: though there e no warning signs, p.c.b.-drenched bayou d'inde, poisoned 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 indust continue. >> it wasn't a long time ago when that tower fell, all that pollution come in he so thick. >> reporter: a plume of carcinogenic vinyl chlore 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.ad ween in the family. >> reporter: what's happened to

all these brothers and sisters >> 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 caknowledges there's no hard evidence the che caused it. who do you blame for this? y 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. the peop that's living in it have got to tolerate all the noise, the pollution and everything that's been destroyed. >> we've had democrat governors, we've had republican governors.m i haven't seh difference in our situation. >> reporter: ow, many of arlie hochschild's sources, though they t have become friends, dispute the clai of unusual environmental degradation in louisiana.

the arenos' niece, janice areno, ardent champion the g.o.p., is a conservative who thinks the federal government has made too much of 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 snowed in right now. >> reporter: as for the state'sn pollutiohealth record... >> people have cancer all over the united states. there's been studies on it and some, some have said, but, we also like having the industry here. and, and over the years, lots 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 b or you're sick, aflac will pay you until you can come back, for up to two years. insurance brok and republican activist sharon galicia is yet

another of hocchild's sources, o disagrees with her. >> we're not saying, just go ahead and pollute everything. but i feel like there'much government overreach in our everyday lives, and... >> reporter: examples? >> well, guns. we're very big hunters down here, lots of guns. we want to buy the guns we want to buy. e.n't tell me how much ammunition i can h health care or not health care. they want to buy it if they want to, not because they have to. ts they want a car that ge ten miles to the gallon, they want to buy car that gets ten miles to the gallon. >> reporter: there's a geral sentiment around here-- i don't know if you guys share it or not-- that government's the problem. >> louisiana government or just the government in general? because, i mean, the state is broken. i me, that's why the highway look like they do, and that's why the i-10 bridge is probably one of the top ten worst bridged in the w >> reporter: and whose fault is that? >> the state? i mean, we payur taxes. >> reporter: so in the end, what's hochschild's conclusion about the red state paradox: that government is so widely resented?

>> it's a colonized state. it's colonized by oil, gas, petrochemicals. and the government does what it does at the behest of these rger interests. nt reporter: to republicans though, the largerests are those of liberal federalgu ideo, who "overreach on social issues" and dictate orders to lol agencies like uisiana's department of environmental quality. c >> 30 cae to take a picture of a little diesel spill. i just t people, too many bureaucrats. i believe it could be run a lot more efficiently with less people. >> reporter: so, no red state paradox for the likes of sharon galicia, because it's the swamp in washington, d.c. that needs draining, not the bayous of louisiana. but tell that to the arenos. for the pbs newshour, economics corrpondent paul solman, reporting from cal-cashu parish, louisiana.

>> woodruff: it is a question playing out on college campuses across the country-- when it comes to free speech, are conservative students held to a different standard than their liberal counterparts? amna nawaz begins our coverage. >> nawaz: with a stroke of the pen, president trump issued an ultimatum to u.s. colleges. >> universities that want taxpayer dollars should promote free speech, not silence free speech.ec >> nawaz: the ive order signed today requires colleges to certify that their policies suppt free speech as a condition to receiving federal research grants. it does not affect schools' access to federal financial aid for student tuition. president trump first proposed the idea to a erthering of cotives in washington earlier this month. >> we believe in free speech, including online and including on campus.

>> nawaz: he brought on-stage conservative activist hayden williams. th if they want our dollars-- and we give it t by the billions-- they've got to allowp like hayden and many other great young people, and old people, to sak. >> nawaz: in february, williams was recruiting on u.c. berkeley's campn he got into an altercation with this man, who then punched williams in the face. that man was arrested and charged with assault, and the university condemned the attack. williams spoke to the newshour ile in washington earlier this month. >> i think there's a culture on college campuses that sort of promotes one side over thehe you know, conservatives arthe minority on college campuses across the country. >> nawaz: but the incident re-ignited the campus freeeb speech de, with a focus on conservative voices. in 2017, u.c. berkeley saw a

series of protests after nservative voices-- some controveial, like milo yiannopoulos, ann coulter and ben shapir-- scheduled campusen . many of the events were either ysstponed or canceled. that october, u.c.m president janet napolitano told msnbc, free speech is an essential part of its core inciples. >> i think that we have to do a much better job of educating our young people about what the first amendment protects, what it means, and how-- once yout ststricting 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 secretasy devos, have argued against federal intervention: >> the way to remedy treat to intellectual freedom on campuses is not accomplished with government muscle. a solution won't comfrom 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 explore the state of free speech on collegees campwith jerry falwell jr. he's the president of liberty university, and was at the white house today as presirump signed this executive order. and, sanford ungar. he's the director of the free eech project at georgeto university, and the president emerit of goucher college. welcome to you both. thank you for being here. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: sand syrian-israeli, yoand your team document incidents of free speech being restricted. you wrote anpinion piece there's an epidemic of challenges to free and open expression. do you support what the president did today? >> do not think what the president did today has any particular meaning at all. we, at our free speech project at georgetown, are examining incidents where free expression is challenged around the countrv

in sal different categories. we've got more than 200 of them now on our online tracker, and what we find is that speech is challenged across the political thspectrum. image, the stereotype, the cliche that it's primarily noble conservative thought being challenged by crazesy an-israeli, fanatical liberal students and professors just doesn't bear out, the fac don't support it. it's been -- there are many instances whonerervative speech was challenged and they get a lot of attention. kme of the people that were in your piece are welnown, they go, they expect disruption, they encourage diruption, and they get it, but a lot of the disruption of other kinds of speech, mainstream speech, factual speech, liberal speech on cam pulses, it's disrupted, and it doesn't attract the same kind of attention, doesn't hae the sort of lobbying force behind it. so i don't think the president -- i would like to believe that the presidst wa

to protect all speech on cmpus. >> jerry fallwell, jr., i'm going to ask you,speaking from a conservative perspective, do you think conservative voices are not supported, are they bamd ? >> i think former new york citye ike bloomberg in his commencement speech in harvard said best a few years ago whid he she faculty and staff o ivy league schools, 96% of them donad to the obama campaign. it can't be awe guide the staff d faculty at most elitist universities are one-sided in their viewpoints a it's the liberal side. so how that translates into whether or not they allow free speech, you hear examples all the time of how conservative ideas e just not given the same respect that liberal ide are given. >> well, we hear examples all the time, you heard what san dijust said, arewe talking

about them more because they get more attention? >> it's 96%. 'm not sure that's a meaningful statistic. what's the remedy if you have a lot of professors on campuses sympathetic or giving to democratic causes? >> well, mayor bloomberg was chastised -- >> whether it's mayor bloombergl or anyone, he has no special credibility on this matter. how would you suggest - >> reporter: jerry fallwell, jr., in the president'sda expression t 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's one example. jimmy carter was our

commencement speaker. bernders spoke at liberty and was given utmost respect students even though they didn't agree. >> that's the wait shoulbe. there should be ideology diversity. i always inved speakers from across the political spectrum. of course we should do that. i don'tinavor shodown any speakers. but my point is just that theret is not j problem on one side. if you listen to it with bothe ears oand both -- and you watch it with both eyes open,s therproblem across political spectrum. >> reporter: lete put this question to you, san di, if you don't mind -- it's true conservativetudents are an ideological minority on most campuses. >> that's obably true. reporter: is it incumbent on university systems to make sure the rights of thaminority including free speech are protected? >> of course, we should pro sct the frech rights of all students on campuses. i think we deal too much in stereotypes and cliches. first of all, i don't think all

of us, student faculty, staff, citizens, should be compelled to reveal wheer we're on one side or the other. it's much more complicated than sat, and i thiudents, when you have discussions, since i teach now at two universities, and when you you havenv sations with students, you discover their views are not so easily pigled when you spend meaningful time with them. weryone comes to college with a different idea oat free speech means and with very individual impressions, and ik tht's rikick cows laos to try to categorize what pe wentage. how find that out? do we take a survey? >> let me ask you the idea about ee speech. a lot is definition, the idea when free speech goes into hate speech or discriminatory speech, that that should not be given a platform. for example, a lot of the ideas that may be held by some conservave speakers who have been shouted down before are

bigoted against ory rans americans. >> that's why there's the first amendment. who decides what's hate speech in when you have 96% of onesi pers making the decision, it comes down lopsided. >> reporter: you go back to that statistic ag but as someone in charge of saying who gets a platform and who doesn't, where do you draw the line? erale invite a lot of lib speakers who don't come because they know liberty is conservative. you don't have to be a conservativeo attend at liberty. > studes reason not tegorizable. at harvard, there's no way to predistrict the political -- >> students, a lot of them haven't developed teir political ideology. >> that's a good 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 with the ties were the ones th mad the

decisions anyway. >> reporter: you now're one to have the older guys with the ties, let me ask you both, as the persons who makes some of ese decisions, how do you enforce something like this? where's the line between free speech and something that could be potentialngerous to your student body?ve >> the execurder curbs research dollars to the universities who don't pmit free speech. i don't know how you define or police that. but i think the bigger problem is thefederal student loan issue, and that's what was discussed today. i think the president is going to go a step further very soon and try to sing out the bad actors who have gone out of business, who have not gtsen their studhe education they promised. you see, before 200, it was guaranteed student loans. the private lenders were making the loans. the government was guaranteeing it. so the private lenders were making the profit. then the government took oversi e they were guaranteeing it, anyway, i think they should have taken it over.

>> you think by the president tying th ms to financians in some way it has a sense of urgency to it? we don't have much more than a minute left.e >> one of t president's claims is thatieniversthat don't respect free speech in his -- we don't know what terms those are -- who will decide, who will make the list, whetm staying up late at night or some other process than that, that people will be denied research funds? and my only fear about this -- i can in general the executive order won't have h effect -- but my worry, is ultimately,ce important caresearch could be defunded because somebody offends milo who the president supports -- >> reporter: do you share that concern? >> colleges don't operate like businesses. we operate lke a business, our students leave wit$6,000 less debt than the national average, and we have a lower -- our

default rate slower than the national average. the elite schools don't want to operate like businesses. >> setting aside finances, we're here too talk ut free speech, are you concerned overpolicing that language could lead to other things happening? >> i think just allowing free speech, you don't police. >> well, sure, but the presidenn is threg research funding, he has used that term. i would like more definition for what are the grounds for cutting off important researc patriotic research, research to keep americans safe, health syean-israeli, secure for t future because, a, speaker was shouted down at a campus? >> a speaker was disinvited. at would be reason to cut off the research? >> reporter: we'll have to leave it there. i thank you bothor being there. jerry fallwell, r., sanford ungar. thank you. >> thankou.

>> woodruff: today is not only the first day of spring-- in astronomical terms, the vernal equinox-- it is also the persian new year, or nowruz. celebrations are taking place aml over the world. now, jeffrey brownes the festive menu of nowruz, with recipes from a new cookbook by a leading persian chef.ar it'sof "canvas," our regular arts and culture seriesv actually, ery dish i make represents something. >> brown: the washington, d.c. inme and kitchen >> brown: the washgton, d.c. home and kitchen of celebrated eaok, najmieh batmanglij, as she prepares a special >> i'm making traditional chrsian new year meal, whian

making fisit's spring lamb because some parts of it, they eat spring lamb for the norooz. i love what i'm doing. i'm so lucky. and i cook with all myeing and i cook with love and i love to have people that i care for. >> brown: 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 friend-- i've been lucky to dine es her table a number of t over the years, and hear stories of her growing up in tehran. t i remember yling me that you did not cook as a girl right. your mother wouldn't let you in the kitchen. >> yes. i always love to cook, but m

mother wouldn't allow me in the kitchen. she would say, go to university, get your education. you will have enty of time to cook. and she was right. >> brown: najmieh studied in th, united stand on graduation: sh>> i returned to iran an allowed me into her kitchen. finally, she said, come and learfrom me. >> brown: after the 1979 iranian revolution she and her husband mohammad fd, first to france-- one of the few countries that did not require a visa. >> i was very homesick and nostalgic, you know. i was pregnant 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 your ychildhood kitchen is ver important. you want to connect with that aroma.

fresh noodles... garlic. voila. >> brown: mohammed batmanglij, a helpmate and taster in the kitchen, also fosters persian culture through his rk as a publisher of ancient and contemporary persian literature, in addition to najmieh'sco books. 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 return to ira >> yes. >> brown: why? >> for the last 35 years, i oked outside of iran. but i had this fantastic dream to go back to iran, to trave throughout iran. i wanted to go from one region to another region. i wanted to cook with the cooks, to share tables. >> brown: hailed by "new york times" as "an engrossing visual feast," and "one of the best cookbooks of 2018," the book captures the ogeer diversity of the country-- its population, geraphy, and cuisine-- that americans rarele have a chanc see, or taste. how do you decide what to include in a book? u have to narrow it down.

>> what i wanted to present in this book, not repeat the same thing, unless the recipe w a little bit different from my original one that was imported. and i wanted to show a persian food is not just kabob. >> brown: americans have one idea of iran, which is mostly based on the politics between the o 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 most were the women of iran. noing 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. and on itagram, we have a persian new year recipe for you to try at home: a yogurt and persian shallot dip. you can find us on instagram, @newshour. dr >> wf: franklin leonard is ea founder and c.e.o. of black list. the company is best known for supporting screenwters through its annual survey of the best unproduced screenplays in hollywood. in tonight's "brief but spectacular," leonard explains how the list has graduallywo introduced hol to a diversity of new ideas and voices. utive in a junior ex leonardo dicaprio's production company. the job was to find greats, screenplnd 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 send you the combined list," and that's what

i did. the scripts that were on the list became movies, and those movies became very successful. >> i called it the black list because it's a double reference. it's a tribute to the writers who lost their careers during the black list of the mccarthy era, and it was also an inversion of the notion that black somehow signified bad. what if there was a black list that people wanted to be on? thblack list website allow anybody on earth to upload their english language screenplay, and in additio 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 of ten or better, we spread the 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, a-list actors and directors. there've been over a thousand screenplays on the annual black list survey. more than 300 had beduced. those movies have won more than 50 oscars and more than 200 nominations.

four of the last nine best pictures were black list scripts: "go," "spotlight," "slumdog millionaire" and "the king's speech." and, ten of the st 22 screenwriting oscars have gone to annual black list scripts. so it no longer matters whether you live in los angele it no longer matters what you look like, who you know. what matters fundamentally is, can you write a great screenplay that someone wants to rn into a movie? we're a catalyst for attention by saying, "hey, everybody, everybody says this is good." it makes everybody say, "maybe h ld take a second look." i don't think hollywood is inherently ract or sexist, any more than america is racist or sexist, which is to say that historically, power has been acreded into the hands of a small group of people who come from very similar bagrounds. and until that power is dispersed and inclusive, it's hard to imagine a system that that isn't racist, sexist and many oer things. the industry is making a subset of material based on a set of conventional wisdom that is alln

convennd no wisdom. and, as a consequence, the industry as a whole is not as profitable as it could be. name is franklin leonar and this is my "brief butta splar" take on the black list. >> woodruff: and you can " watch additionief but spectacular" episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief. and this note: one of our recent stories took a tragic turn this week. jerri clark recounted an sootional episode about he 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 told our reporr that "every crack in the system that led to this is what killed my son." for anyone watching this, who is struggling with mental illness, jerri suggests that 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 illness, where you can find your local affiliate. and you can find our episode of jerri ark on our homepage, www.pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening with marks shied david brooks. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and '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 mtmbai, red r. >> babbel. a language program that teaches spanish, french, italian, german, and more.

>> consumer cellular. >> bnsf railway. >> american cruise lines. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbe station fromrs like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by nehour productions, llc captioned byme a access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org results are only as good

as your ingredients. on this season of martha bakes, join me in the kitchen with the experts who know these ingredien best. i'll teach you how to use them in original recipes, from pies to cak and tarts that your family and friends will love. plus, soke of my favorite will use these prize ingredients in their recipes. welcome to martha bakes. martha bakes is made possible by... for more than 200 years, domino and c&h sugars have been used by home bakers to help bring recipes to leae and crte memories for each new gion of baking enthusiasts. ♪ is proud to sponsor n"martha bakes"u care ♪