Pavlich, Peggy (1998). The Stewardship of Public Trust: Are Professional Communicators up to the Moral Challenge of Public Problem-Solving?. With the assumption that the preservation of free speech and democracy is paramount to social, political, and environmental adaptation, the question arises: to whom falls the stewardship of honest and fair public discourse for problem solving? If the average United States citizen is, at best skeptical of the news media, and, at worst, turned off entirely to what has been the default mechanism of social self study and an occasional forum for thoughtful debate, then who will engage the interests of the public in productive exchange? This paper proposes that, as a result of the news media's self-inflicted credibility crisis and other conditions, the time has come for non-news media communicators (including professional communicators and "lay" communicators) to assert themselves as credible sources of the truth and to be recognized by the public as responsible fiduciaries of the public trust. Serious questions arise from this statement, including whether professional… [PDF]

Sandmann, Warren (1998). Current Cases on Academic Freedom. This paper discusses current court rulings on academic freedom at the college and university level. The paper focuses on three cases: "Hall v. Kutztown," in which the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that Kutztown University violated the free speech rights of a philosophy professor when it rejected him for two tenure-track positions after he voiced opposition to multicultural education and criticized "barbaric" cultural practices in some countries of Africa and Asia; "Kincaid v. Gibson," in which the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky granted summary judgment for the University of Kentucky, denying any claims of infringement of the First Amendment in the refusal to distribute the school yearbook; and "Loving v. Boren," in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld a lower-court decision that a University of Oklahoma professor lacked standing to challenge university… [PDF]

Rhoads, Robert A. (1998). Freedom's Web: Student Activism in an Age of Cultural Diversity. This book examines student activism in the 1990s and finds its sources in the struggle over multiculturalism and issues of social justice and equality. It is argued that identity politics is a reaction to the cultural hegemony reinforced through longstanding monocultural norms of the academy. A case study methodology used such data as formal and informal interviews, open-ended surveys, document surveys and analysis, participant observation, key informants, and artifact interpretation. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to student activism and its origins. Chapter 2 reviews student activism from the 1960s (the civil rights, free speech, and peace movements) through the acquiescence of the 1970s and the South Africa divestment movement of the 1980s. The following five chapters present case studies of specific acts of student activism in the 1990s. These are: (1) the Chicano Studies Movement at the University of California, Los Angeles; (2) the Mills College Strike, a movement against…

(1990). Selected Papers from the 1990 Meeting of the American Journalism Historians' Association (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, October 2-7, 1990): Part 2. The following 11 papers, on a variety of topics, were given at the 1990 meeting of the American Journalism Historians' Association: (1) "They Hang Editors Don't They?: Free Speech and Free Press Issues in the Haymarket Case, 1886" (Nathaniel Hong); (2) "G. K. Chesterton and the British Press, 1911-1933" (Dean Rapp); (3) "Trial by Newspaper in Nineteenth-Century England" (Judith Knelman); (4) "The Halftone and Magazine Reproduction in the United States: From 1880-1900" (Christopher R. Harris); (5) "'…A Beautiful Gesture That Is Perfectly Meaningless…' The ASNE Debate over Teeth in Its Code of Ethics, 1923-1932" (Alf Pratte); (6) "'…To Leave This Beggarly Profession': A Study of Lawyers in Journalism" (Elise D. Nordquist); (7) "The 'New England Courant': Voice of Anglicanism" (Wm. David Sloan); (8) "'Protect the Laborer': Henry Demarest Lloyd and Gilded Age Labor Reporting, 1878-1902" (Richard…

Ware, Martha L. (1982). Reduction in Force: The Legal Aspects. Six legal issues surrounding a school district's reduction in force are described in this twelfth chapter in a book on school law. First, the courts generally hold that the school board must prove that a reduction in force (RIF) is inescapable. The second issue revolves around which positions and employees are being eliminated. In deciding such cases, one question to be resolved by the courts is whether a board is attempting to circumvent the fair dismissal statute by abolishing a specific position. Third, courts will examine closely allegations that the real reason for a layoff is constitutionally impermissible, such as the exercise of free speech. Fourth, the issue of seniority is largely determined by statute and contract. Tenured faculty attempting to \bump\ other tenured faculty must prove their qualifications for the position. Fifth, in absence of both statute and contract provisions, courts require sufficient notice of RIF. Unfortunately, this causes many boards to issue…

Schlue, Karen (1977). An Inside View of Interlanguage. A learner's awareness of success, failure, and error potential encountered in free speech in a second language was studied with three subjects. The speech of adult learners of English as a Second Language was recorded and replayed to the subjects, who were asked to listen to their utterances and to recall the mental experience that surrounded each utterance. The subjects were asked to use categories to aid in recalling and characterizing their metalinguistic awareness during speech. Recording and self-analysis were carried out on a weekly basis for 10 weeks. A search was then made for grammatical structures that appeared frequently throughout the data. Each example was checked for progress over the 10-week period in the hope of discovering whether a growing awareness of error preceded mastery of the structure. Among the findings are the following: (1) the learners did not recognize 65 percent of their errors, even with the aid of the tape recorder and time for reflection; (2) when…

Cannizzaro, Michael S.; Harel, Brian T.; Reilly, Nicole; Snyder, Peter J. (2004). Feigned Depression and Feigned Sleepiness: A Voice Acoustical Analysis. Brain and Cognition, v55 n2 p383-386 Jul. We sought to profile the voice acoustical correlates of simulated, or feigned depression by neurologically and psychiatrically healthy control subjects. We also sought to identify the voice acoustical correlates of feigned sleepiness for these same subjects. Twenty-two participants were asked to speak freely about a cartoon, to count from 1 to 10, and to sustain an "a" sound for approximately 5 s. These exercises were completed three times (within the same testing session) with three differing sets of instructions to the participants. These three conditions were presented in pseudo-random order to control for any order effects, and all subjects were naive to the intended purpose of this study. For all three conditions, mean speaking rates and pitch ranges were calculated. A series of paired t tests showed significant differences in the speaking rates (counting numbers and free-speech exercises) between the \normal\ and feigned sleepy conditions, and between the normal and feigned… [Direct]

Slayden, David, Ed.; Whillock, Rita Kirk, Ed. (1995). Hate Speech. Most of the research on hate has focused on specific acts of hatred, but little attention has been given to the rhetorical expression and strategies of hate. The insights of scholars from a variety of disciplines have been gathered in this collection to explore hate as a communication phenomenon. Essays include: (1) "Elite Discourse and the Reproduction of Racism" (Teun A. van Dijk); (2) "The Use of Hate as a Strategem for Achieving Political and Social Goals" (Rita Kirk Whillock); (3) "The Gay Agenda: Marketing Hate Speech to Mainstream Media" (Marguerite J. Moritz); (4) "Work-Hate: Narratives about Mismanaged Transitions in Times of Organizational Transformation and Change" (H. L. Goodall, Jr.); (5) "Symbolism and the Representation of Hate in Visual Discourse" (David E. Whillock); (6) "Acts of Power, Control, and Resistance: Narrative Accounts of Convicted Rapists" (Peter M. Kellett); (7) "Hating for Life:…

(1988). Law-Related Education in University Classrooms: Examples of Ways Professors in the California State Universities Have Incorporated Law-Related Education Content, Material, and Methods into Their Classroom Teaching. Over 50 professors in the California State University (CSU) system provided testimonies concerning the ways they have introduced law-related education concepts, materials, and methods into their courses, especially those classes in which future teachers are present. Incorporation of law-related education (LRE) in the various stages of the teacher preparation curriculum within the CSU system is the major goal of the Civic Education Enhancement Project. The statements are each two pages long and include (1) an abstract, (2) a statement of the course objectives and how some aspect of LRE fits logically within the course structure, (3) a review of the way(s) students actively participated in the lesson or unit of study, (4) a description of tasks assigned by the professor to enable students to demonstrate their application of LRE content, and (5) a summary of evaluations of the modification conducted by the professor and/or the students based on observations, comments, ratings, and… [PDF]

(1990). Bigotry and Violence on American College Campuses. This document contains testimony presented at a briefing on bigotry and violence on college campuses in the United States. Eight witnesses, including college educators and students, presented information about the extent and causes of, and possible solutions to, the apparent increase in the number of incidents. Panelists varied slightly in their perception of which group or groups are the primary victims of campus bigotry, but all agreed that a serious problem existed. They differed in their interpretation of how bigotry is expressed, varying from open harassment of minority group members to insensitivity resulting in strained racial relations. Although the number of incidents and \alerts\ (i.e., formal notifications of tensions or conflicts) reported to various public and private agencies has increased significantly over the past five years, panelists were divided as to the reasons for the increase. The following causes of campus bigotry were cited: (1) deficiencies on college… [PDF]

Sanders, Wayne C. (1986). Important and Unimportant Organizational Communication: Public Employee Freedom of Speech after "Connick v. Myers.". A review of 16 Federal Court of Appeals cases indicates the impact of the "Connick v. Myers" case on the nature of freedom of speech in public organizations. The case involved the firing of an assistant district attorney for circulating a job satisfaction survey after she was transferred to a less desirable section of the courts. Since the 1983 Supreme Court decision, the organizational communication of public employees has been constitutionally protected only if the communication pertains to a matter of public concern and outweighs any potential harm to organizational efficiency. The courts still lack a consensus on the matter of how communication within organizations affects and is affected by the outside environment. The factual situations of each case provide insights into how some managers try to control communication within their organizations. The courts continue to argue over what constitutes a "matter of public concern" and to weigh the interest of free…

Cohen, David (1986). Preparation for the Battle against Censorship of Film and Video in the 80s. Urban Academic Librarian, v5 n1 p30-34 Fall-Win 1986-87. Documentation of the spread of censorship is extensive, and although challenges to films and videocassettes have not figured prominently in the literature, in the future there may be more emphasis on these media than on print material. On the state level, increasing censorship of films and videocassettes has occurred in North Carolina, California, Maine, Florida, Oklahoma, and New York. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Justice has labeled three Canadian films as "propaganda," and the U.S. Information Agency has taken action against a producer of films considered "critical" of the United States. Further examples of litigation include the Supreme Court's expected ruling on the constitutionality of a Louisiana state law mandating the teaching of creationism wherever evolution is taught, and the Mobile, Alabama, suit opposing the "secular humanist" curriculum of the schools. Furthermore, it is clear that the Meese Commission is determined to fight against…

Mendelsohn, David (1978). Problems in Testing the Intonation of Advanced Foreign Learners. Language Center News, n1 p111-123. It is argued that knowledge about the testing of intonation in English as a foreign language is inadequate; the major problems are outlined and tentative suggestions are given. The basic problem is that the traditional foreign language teacher's conception of intonation is limited. A three-part definition of intonation is favored, with suggestions on how to assess each of these subsystems. The sections deal with the assessment of the subsystems of tonality, tonicity and tone which together make up intonation. Tonality is defined as the distribution into tone groups–the number and location of the tone group boundaries. Tonicity is defined as the placing of the tonic syllable–the location in each tone group of the pretonic and tonic sections. Tone is defined as the choice of primary and secondary tone. In the discussion of tone, it is noted that: (1) specific tones do not always accompany specific grammatical forms; (2) there is dialectical and ideolectal variation in tone; (3)…

Lewis, Julie E.; Pickett, Dean; Pulliam, Janet L.; Schwartz, Richard A.; St. Germaine, Anne-Marie; Underwood, Julie; Worona, Jay (2000). Safe Schools, Safe Communities. Schools must work together with agencies, groups, and individuals to eliminate the forces leading children to violence. Chapter 1, "School Safety: Working Together to Keep Schools Safe," stresses the importance of community collaboration in violence prevention. Effective prevention requires sharing information about students, consistent with Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) guidelines. Other measures important to prevention are a visible law-enforcement presence, communication links with students, and a zero-tolerance policy. Chapter 2, "Balancing Student Safety and Students' Rights," explores relevant case law regarding student rights in such areas as substantive and procedural due process, advance notice, search and seizure, free speech, and privacy rights. Chapter 3, "The Attorney's Role in Responding to Violence: Lessons from Jonesboro, Arkansas," reviews lessons learned by business managers trained in crisis management. For school… [PDF]

(1997). School Law in Review 1997. This compilation of the presentations delivered at the NSBA Council of School Attorneys' Annual School Law Seminar includes the following papers: (1) \The 'Dimensions' of Trial Advocacy\ (Keith Evans); (2) \Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Who Has It and Who Doesn't\ (Jerry L. Wyckoff); (3) \Student-to-Student Sexual Harassment and Dealing with the Office for Civil Rights\ (Jennifer W. Jacobs); (4) \Ethical Issues for School Law Attorneys\ (Nancy Fredman Krent and Joanna K. Horsnail); (5) \Discipline of Employees for Out-of-School Conduct\ (David L. Yewell); (6) \Sexual Harassment and 'Free Speech'\ (Bruce S. Rogow); (7) \Thoughts on Presenting an Effective Oral Argument\ (John G. Roberts, Jr.); (8) \Dealing with the Office for Civil Rights in Section 504 Matters\ (Susan S. Schermerhorn); (9) \Should Schools Be Required to Administer Ritalin?\ (Melanie Gurley Keeney and Martha M. Neville); (10) \Burgeoning Issues in Special Education: Services to Children in…

Redfern, Alicia King, Ed. (1996). "25 Years of Educational Excellence." Special Issue Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Journal of the Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education, Inc. Journal of the Pennsylvania Black Conference on Higher Education, v11 spec iss spr. The articles in this document are intended to be reflective of the theme "A Silver Celebration: 25 Years of Educational Excellence," and cover topics ranging from black college athletes to black real estate owners to the status of African Americans in Pennsylvania colleges and universities. They include: "The Social and Political Dimensions of Achieving a Multicultural College Curriculum" (Carolyn D. W. Princes; Andrew O. Igbineweka); "Black Student Collegiate Recruitment in Pennsylvania: A Historiographical Analysis" (R. Pierre Rodgers); "Can Campus Hateful Speech Rules and the Free Speech Clause of the United States Constitution Co-Exist in an Un-Civil Society" (Davie Tate, Jr.); "Confusion Exists in the Purchase of Residential Real Estate: Is It Race Related?" (Vanessa J. Lawrence); "Problems Affecting African American Student-Athletes at Predominantly White Institutions" (Darren J. Hamilton; Sherry L. Price); and… [PDF]

Herbeck, Dale A. (1990). Justifying Suppression: The Sedition Act of 1798 as Evidence of Framers' Intent. The Bill of Rights contains a set of simple statements about the rights which citizens may claim in disputes with the government. Those who suggest that the First Amendment has always represented a strong commitment to free speech ignore the historical lesson offered by the Sedition Act of 1798. The early American republic maintained careful neutrality between warring France and Britain. Federalists, suspicious of the Republicans' friendship with the French, won congressional passage of the Sedition Act. The statute criminalized criticism of the American government. At that time, the government was in the hands of the pro-British Federalists, while much of the criticism leveled at that party came from certain Republican newspapers and legislators. Federalists defended the Act as necessary to the defense of the United States. The law was expressly designed to suppress any and all political opposition to Federalist leadership and policies. Republican-dominated Southern legislatures… [PDF]

Harrison, S. L. (1995). Anatomy of the Scopes Trial: Mencken's Media Event. The 1925 Scopes trial and H. L. Mencken's published opinions about it provides an excellent example for both scholar and student alike to study issues of free speech, justice, publicity, public relations, and cutting journalistic writing. "Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes was a Mencken extravaganza; he gave the trial its derisive name and described it as "colossal buffoonery." A review of the developments of the trial shows that it is more complex than it is generally understood to be. It sprang from questionable purposes; all parties concerned held dubious motivations and goals. Dayton's townspeople were swindled by an eager desire for fame and greedy hopes for local prosperity from a public relations-backed publicity spectacle. The publicity generated a carnival-like atmosphere that made their town and themselves the laughingstock of the nation. Like the young and inexperienced teacher John Scopes, the people of Dayton were willing, ill-used pawns in an enterprise… [PDF]

Flygare, Thomas J. (1984). Who Runs the Schools: Judges or Educators?. This paper argues that courts have tended to identify and enforce individual rights at the expense, in many instances, of the ability of school boards and legislatures to carry out what they perceive to be the will of the majority of voters in their jurisdictions. The trend emphasizing individual rights began in 1954 with the Supreme Court decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" that upheld the rights of minorities over the will of the majority with respect to school segregation. Other pivotal Supreme Court decisions and acts of Congress that furthered this trend are discussed, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964; "Pickering v. Board of Education" (free speech for teachers on issues of public interest); "Tinker v. Board of Education" (students' right to nondisruptive free expression), legislation against discrimination on the basis of sex or handicap; and two 1975 Supreme Court decisions protecting students' constitutional rights against school…

Sanders, Wayne (1988). Freedom of Expression and Government Employees: A Traditional Point of View. To consider one aspect of workplace freedom of speech–the question of authority versus freedom, this paper examines the first amendment protections of government workers. The paper looks at freedom of speech rights by using two theoretical frameworks (the natural rights view and the law and economics view) to analyze Supreme Court decisions on balancing free speech and government efficiency. These frameworks are also used to interpret Supreme Court decisions on distinguishing matters of public concern from matters of personal concern and defining topics of public concern. The paper concludes that, after nearly 20 years, judicial decisions in the Consitutional rights of public employees are starting to settle into a recognizable pattern and that there are two sides to be weighed when evaluating workplace freedom of speech. The paper identifies one side as the commenting side, where speech is considered protected if it addresses a matter of public concern. The other side is…

Jones, K. Maurice (1994). Say It Loud! The Story of Rap Music. Rap, a popular music that emerged in the United States during the 1980s and 90s, is described as a creation of young African American culture. It belongs to a centuries old legacy of using language creatively in everyday life. The roots of the music are seen as part of the African-American oral and musical traditions that encompass the hidden messages of slave folktales, the call and response of the Black church, the joy and pain of the blues, the jive talk and slang of disc jockeys and jazz musicians, the boasting of street talk, the wit of comedians, and the eloquence of Black activists. Rap shares West Africa as a common place of origin. After a Prologue, "Young Lions of America", the work is organized into seven chapters and an epilogue. These are Chapter 1, "The Roots of Rap"; Chapter 2, "Get On Up: The Rise of African-American Culture"; Chapter 3, "Back in the Day"; Chapter 4, "The Message Spreads"; Chapter 5, "Roots,…

Cornwell, Nancy C. (1993). Is There Need for a Feminist Perspective on Hate Speech?. A feminist perspective can be valuable in analysis of hate speech, but the analysis must connect with other social, political, and cultural perspectives such as race, class, sexual orientation, unity, and diversity. Hate speech has emerged as a contemporary political issue and is particularly visible on college and university campuses. Judicial response to speech codes, including those on university campuses, has been that such codes are overbroad and a violation of the First Amendment. Five categories of unprotected speech are: clear and present danger; obscenity; commercial speech; libel; and "fighting words" doctrine. Only the "fighting words" doctrine may possibly apply to hate speech. Some scholars have argued that hate speech violates the rights of equal protection and opportunity guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Feminist legal theory attempts to reveal the discriminatory basis of legal rules and practices otherwise assumed to be neutral or… [PDF]

Haskel, Claudia A., Ed.; Otto, Jean H., Ed. (1991). A Time for Choices. A collection of essays on the 10 amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution is presented in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. The following essays are included: "The First Amendment and the Virtues of an Open Society" (R. Smolla); "The First Amendment as a Guardian of Liberties" (M. Halperin); "The First Amendment and the Role of a Free Press in a Free Society" (B. Sanford); "An Unsettled Arena: Religion and the First Amendment" (R. White, Jr.); "The Second Amendment: The Right to Bear Arms" (W. Burger); "The Fourth Amendment, Privacy, and Modern Technology: A Time for Reassessment" (G. Trubow); "The Right of the People to be Secure in Their Persons, Homes, Papers, and Effects" (Y. Kamisar); "Freedom of Speech and the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination" (Justice W. Erickson); "Reconcilable Rights to a Fair Trial and a Free…

Cheney, Lynne V. (1992). Telling the Truth. A Report on the State of the Humanities in Higher Education. This report examines the problem of the pervasiveness of politics in today's higher education, particularly in the humanities, and argues the need for college and university campuses to return to seeking the truth and telling it rather than straying into the position that the aim of education is for students to become politically transformed. Too often, it is argued, classrooms are being used to advance a political agenda, and for students to resist such efforts in teaching often means to risk ostracism both by their classmates and their professors. The report stresses that seeking higher standards of human endeavor is no longer as important as politically correct thinking. Academic freedom is being transformed to the point where the expression of controversial views (i.e., views differing from those being inculcated by the instructor) now comes with a high social cost; on campus and off, truth is seen as nothing more than different perspectives being advanced by different people to… [PDF]

Roen, Duane (1998). Addressing Teachers' Concerns about Diversity in Composition Classrooms. First-year teaching assistants (TAs) at Arizona State University participate in a fair amount of training–in rhetorical theory, composition theory, teaching theory and practices, the English 101 syllabus, and university policies and services. But one classroom incident which began with a TA resulted in much turmoil on campus. Two examples of materials with hostile and offensive language aimed at persons from underrepresented groups transmitted over the Internet were brought to an English 101 class by a TA because they outraged her. To heighten teachers' awareness of matters of diversity, additional training was offered to all composition teachers. The Intergroup Relations Center (IRC) was established in the summer of 1997. The Composition Program has worked closely with the IRC to raise teachers' awareness of diversity issues and to offer pedagogical strategies for fostering diversity in the classroom. The IRC staff designed an 8-hour series of four workshops for teachers. The… [PDF]

Baird, Robert M., Ed.; Rosenbaum, Stuart E., Ed. (1992). Bigotry, Prejudice, and Hatred: Definitions, Causes, and Solutions. Contemporary Issues Series. The causes of bigotry, prejudice, and hatred and what can be done about them are discussed by the authors represented in this collection. Most of the book provides general discussions of these issues, but Part 2, "Universities and the 'Politically Correct' Response to Hatred and Prejudice," contains some specific examinations of these issues and their impact on the college campus. Contributions are (1) "Equality" (Abraham Kaplan); (2) "The Nature of Hatred" (Gordon W. Allport); (3) "Portrait of the Anti-Semite" (Jean-Paul Sartre); (4) "Construction, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction of Difference" (Paula Rothenberg); (5) "Oberlin" (Jacob Weisberg); (6) "Berkeley" (Stephen R. Barnett); (7) "The Cult of Multiculturalism" (Fred Siegel); (8) "Free Speech for Campus Bigots: (Jon Wiener); (9) "A Classical Case for Gay Studies" (Martha Nussbaum); (10) "Causes of Prejudice" (Elliot…

Herbeck, Dale A. (1991). Teaching the Tyrants: Perspectives on Freedom of Speech and Undergraduates. Teaching freedom of speech to undergraduates is a difficult task, in part as a result of the challenging history of free expression in the United States. The difficulty is compounded by the need to teach the topic, in contrast to indoctrinating the students in an ideology of free speech. The Bill of Rights, and specifically the First Amendment, appear simple and clear, but they are not as transparent as some have suggested. The First Amendment has been hard to interpret from its inception, and its meaning continues to evolve through numerous court cases. Despite claims to the contrary, American society has frequently failed to demonstrate a commitment to freedom of expression. Considering the sporadic and inconsistent history of free expression in America, teaching such a history is arduous. In light of this context, teachers of free expression must avoid the temptation to ground freedom of speech solely in historical claims. Laws such as the First Amendment can be reinterpreted by… [PDF]

Olasky, Marvin N. (1986). When World Views Collide: Journalists and the Great Monkey Trial. The Scopes trial of 1925 drew many reporters to Dayton, Tennessee, to report on what they expected would be the final blow to ignorant fundamentalism. They came with many preconceived notions about Dayton, the people of Dayton, William Jennings Bryan, and creationism. Close examination of pretrial, trial, and posttrial coverage in eight newspapers–the "New York Times,""New York American,""Chicago Tribune,""Washington Post,""Baltimore Sun,""Los Angeles Times,""Arkansas Gazette," and "Atlanta Constitution"–revealed that most reporters presupposed evolution as a scientific fact, the residents of Dayton as ignorant, and the Bible as highly errant. In reality, pro-evolution books were readily available in Dayton, while the key issue in the trial for Tennesseans was not free speech, but rather parental control over school curricula. The anti-evolution bill was seen as a way to forbid proselytizing for an as… [PDF]

Pizante, Gary (1985). The Canadian Charter of Rights, American Jurisprudence, and Canadian Civil Libel Law: Will There Be an Occasion for Dancing in Canadian Streets?. The new and immense task that awaits the judiciary of Canada is to decide what limitations, if any, ought to be imposed upon freedom of expression as protected in the new Canadian Constitution with an entrenched Charter of Rights. The area of civil libel law provides special problems related to free speech and press. One source of help for scholars, lawyers, and judges struggling with this problem is the thinking of the American philosopher, Alexander Meiklejohn. His view is that the First Amendment was meant to protect political speech. Thus, he heralded the United States Supreme Court decision in "New York Times vs. Sullivan" as "an occasion for dancing in the streets." It is questionable, however, whether the Canadian courts will accept this theory of self-government and its idea of what is reasonable. Ultimately, the decision rests on how much of a departure from the past the Charter represents. The original purpose of the Canadian system was to provide…

Chapman, Robin S.; Kohn, Lawrence L. (1977). Comprehension Strategies in Two and Three-Year-Olds: Animate Agents or Probable Events? Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, No. 13. A study was conducted to determine whether children give evidence of using any of six comprehension strategies and whether children of same and different ages use different strategies. It was studied how comprehension performance can best be predicted by other facts about the child, including his language and his language input. The six comprehension strategies are: child as agent, probable event, animate noun as agent, relative object size, position bias, and word order. Of particular interest is whether the \animate agent\ strategy can be shown to exist rather than the competing explanations of \relative object\ size preference or, for some sentences, a judgment that the animate toy as agent is simply the more \probable event.\ Twenty-five children, eight aged 24-25 months, 10 aged 30-32 months, and seven aged 36-44 months, were studied in two to five 30-minute testing sessions in a small playroom with the mother present. Free speech samples for mother and child during free play,…