Campus Free Speech and Academic Freedom

The National Constitution Center hosted a symposium on campus free speech and academic freedom on March 18, and this episode shares two panels from that event. On the first panel—Amy Wax of The University of Pennsylvania  Law School, Anita Bernstein of Brooklyn Law School, and Cary Nelson of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne share what academic freedom means to them and discuss their differing views on how some on-campus controversies should be handled. Next, university administrators have the chance to respond, and detail how they have handled such controversies. The second panel features Dean Ted Ruger of Penn Law, President Tom Sullivan of the University of Vermont, President Ken Gormley of Duquesne University, and President Julie Wollman of Widener University.

Note: The second panel includes a discussion of the University of Chicago principles—a set of guiding principles that some colleges and universities have adopted in an effort to show their commitment to free speech and expression—and you can read them here.

This coming May, be sure to tune in to our special series on the First Amendment—in partnership with Duquesne University—on Live at America’s Town Hall. The series features audio of the 2018 National Conference on the First Amendment held at Duquesne University, which the NCC helped coordinate. We’ll be sharing conversations with leading First Amendment scholars, activists, journalists and more—from First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams and U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco, to New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet, and more.  

Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.