Richard Stallman Makes a Come Back in his first public appearance at an US event
The free software movement has been around for over four decades now. It started as a response to proprietary software licenses that restricted people from understanding, modifying, or sharing the programs they ran on their computers.
At the center of this movement is the Free Software Foundation (FSF), founded in 1985. It has been the organizational backbone for promoting software freedom, maintaining crucial free software licenses like the GPL, and supporting projects that respect user rights.
Dr. Richard Stallman has been at the forefront of this movement from day one, along with countless other people who joined up to make their collective vision a reality. If you want to hear from him directly, he's speaking at Georgia Tech on January 23.
His First U.S. College Talk Since Ages
Marking his return to college speaking, this will be his first appearance at a U.S. college since his cancer diagnosis and successful recovery in 2019. It's also his first visit to Atlanta since the 1990s and his first appearance ever at Georgia Tech, as pointed out by the organizers.
The event itself is called "Gratis Talk with Dr. Richard Stallman," and is organized by the LibreTech Collective, Georgia Tech's student-run club that focuses on free, libre, and open source software, hardware, and knowledge.
As for the agenda, he will be covering the history of software freedom, the evolution of computing, and finally his perspectives on AI.
The event is also serving as a recruitment drive for the GNU Project, which is actively looking for contributors. If you are interested in joining up, bringing a resume isn't a bad idea.
At the end of his 1-hour talk, Richard will be open to questions from the audience, so be sure to note down your thoughts! 📝
Why The Long Delay?
Stallman resigned from his positions at MIT and the FSF in September 2019 following controversy over comments he made about deceased MIT scientist Marvin Minsky and the Jeffrey Epstein case.
After that, he largely stepped back from public speaking engagements in the United States, particularly at colleges and universities. While he has given talks internationally recently, including appearances in Finland, Germany, and Italy, this Georgia Tech event marks his return to the U.S. college speaking in quite some time.
Event Details and Registration
If you are around the state of Georgia and are interested in having some fun, grounded conversations with fellow free software and open source enthusiasts, why not attend it?
There's also going to be lots of cool FSF merchandise to be had for cash donations, so be sure to carry some!
The event details are as follows:
- Time 🕰: January 23, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 05:00 PM.
- Venue 🏢: Room #100, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia. (searchable on CoMaps and Google Maps)
- Tickets 🎟: Not required; this is a free event. Just show up and look for an empty seat!
Via: FOSS Force
