(2018). Free Speech: Staying Mission- and Admission-Centered during the Rise of Controversial Language and Events on Campus. Journal of College Admission, n239 p50-52 Spr. When professor Johnny Eric Williams at Trinity College (CT) sent out a racially charged tweet in the wake of last year's shooting at a congressional baseball practice, it thrust the institution into the media spotlight over how it responded. The tweet was portrayed in some media outlets as a racial remark against white people in general, although Williams has stated he meant it to be directed against systemic racism. The controversy surrounding the tweet intensified when Tucker Carlson, a Fox News political commentator and Trinity alumnus, did a segment about the case in which he claimed liberals had "wrecked" his alma mater. Although Williams was initially put on leave, he was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing after it was determined that his tweet was protected under principles of academic freedom…. [PDF]
(2020). Legal Literacy and K-12 Public School Teachers. Mid-Western Educational Researcher, v32 n4 p330-349. Courts have long held that public school teachers are "state actors" when they carry out the duties of their job. Despite this, very few teacher preparation programs include an education law class. In order to understand teachers' legal literacy, a survey was given to 300 public school teachers in Indiana. The survey assessed knowledge of constitutional law issues, statutory law issues, and case law relevant to public school settings (e.g., student free speech, search and seizure, special education law, etc.). Results indicate that very few teachers are legal literate, often mistaking what is within the realm of legal possibility in a school setting. Implications and suggestions for mitigating possible lawsuits are discussed…. [PDF]
(2022). In Defense of Dignitary Safety: A Phenomenological Study of Student Resistance to Hate Speech on Campus. Peabody Journal of Education, v97 n5 p600-615. Frequent incidents of racist hate speech on college and university campuses continue to instigate an ideological battleground between legal purists, anti-racist scholars, and those otherwise situated somewhere therein. We find that arguments from legal purists are predicated upon a false-equivalency between racist and anti-racist speech where the effect, value, and embedded power dynamics of the former are often disregarded. We engage in a phenomenological analysis of a four-year, private institution–Clearview College (CVC)–where a controversial speaker was invited to campus by a conservative student organization. We specifically interrogate how the seemingly race-neutral free speech policies at CVC, which were informed by the "Chicago Principles," were racially structured in impact. We utilize a conceptual framework that demarcates intellectual safety and dignitary safety as a foundational point of departure to analyze the responses from 20 undergraduate students. The… [Direct]
(2021). Media Literacy for Elementary Education Students: Inquiry into Fake News. Social Studies, v112 n3 p136-145. This work focuses on facilitating upper elementary students' media literacy skills development. Students engage in authentic techniques to recognize and verify media content and sources. Relevant background topics follow this structure: (a) introduction including literature review and purpose, (b) brief history of fake news, (c) impacts of misleading information on society, and (d) how to moderate fake news. The final student inquiry adheres to the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies. Students investigate these questions: What is fake news? Why should I care? How can fake news affect people and institutions? Why does fake news affect our lives and societies? Interactive, current resources are included to activate students' abilities to discern multiple fake news concepts and categories. Extra resources accentuate students' debate skills regarding free speech rights versus media ambiguity. Recommendations for students' public informed action solutions are… [Direct]
(2021). Cultivating a Culture of Care through Both/And Leadership. Journal of College and Character, v22 n1 p81-86. As the nation's personal, social, and political divides deepen and become more contentious, administrators, faculty, staff, and students face the challenge of navigating this division. Issues of human rights, free speech, and college and university policy converge with remarkable contention, leaving many higher education professionals believing they do not have the knowledge and skill to facilitate civil discourse. On some occasions when dialogue is broached, parties hold fast to their positions staunchly without care or empathy for the other's perspective or lived experiences. This environment can perpetuate even deeper divides. This article will review how to cultivate a culture of care to set thoughtful expectations of all campus stakeholders, provide a foundation for empathy and compassion from which to hold meaningful conversation, and explore the notion that a both/and approach to difficult conversations can be far more useful than an either/or method of discourse…. [Direct]
(2018). Teachers, Students, and Ideological Bias in the College Classroom. Wicked Problems Forum: Freedom of Speech at Colleges and Universities. Communication Education, v67 n2 p254-258. Discussions surrounding ideology and free speech on college and university campuses continually occur in the popular press. In this forum, Herbeck (see EJ1171161) chronicles several heated clashes over free speech that have recently erupted on campuses across the country, fueling news stories reported through traditional and social media. Issues pertaining to ideology can quickly and understandably come to the surface in communication courses, even if faculty are reluctant to discuss these topics in the classroom. That said, research has suggested that students are prone to perceive faculty who challenge them to think critically about important societal issues as ideologically biased (Linvill & Mazer, 2011, 2013). This essay examines the role of students' cognitive development as it influences issues of freedom of speech in the classroom. The findings from decades of research published in "Communication Education" and other journals overwhelming indicate that… [Direct]
(2012). Free Speech?. Campus Technology, v26 n3 p7-9 Nov. Lecture capture technology has advanced to a point where implementing a solution can be disarmingly simple. But it is important for faculty and administrators not to be lulled into a false sense of security–recording faculty and guest lectures still comes with its share of legal issues covering copyright, intellectual property rights, distribution, and permissions. While some lecture capture technology provides assistance even in these areas, colleges and universities need to develop clearly defined guidelines on how recorded lectures can be used. Universities can use most recorded lectures for free, but in some cases payment may be required, distribution restricted, or permissions needed…. [Direct]
(2021). Senior Teachers' Learning about Student Rights. Journal of Teacher Education, v72 n5 p564-578 Nov-Dec. The study explores the rights consciousness of senior teachers who participated in a student rights professional development (PD) course and designed educational projects during the course. It analyzes teachers' perceptions of students' rights and the influence of the PD and other factors on these perceptions. The data included interviews with 17 teachers and an analysis of their projects. One cluster of teachers held a top-down perception of students' rights, conveying a contrastive approach to rights reflecting students' autonomy. The second cluster of teachers held a broader perception, which included bottom-up mobilization of students' free speech and participation rights, conveying a supportive approach to these rights. The teachers' projects did not reflect these patterns, limiting their focus to rights already embedded in school. Furthermore, the teachers did not report their learning experience as transformative. Rather, they applied their newly acquired knowledge and… [Direct]
(2021). Responding to Civil Unrest in Schools: Prevention to Response. School Safety and Crisis. National Association of School Psychologists While students have a right to exercise free speech, schools have a responsibility to ensure safety and maintain the integrity of the learning environment. School and district administration must prepare for the potential of civil unrest both in the community and at school (e.g., walkouts, sit-ins, protests), and to prevent or mitigate the impact of protests that might turn violent. School leaders should work with students who want to organize protests or walk outs, provide options for safe ways to protest, and remind students and parents of policies and any consequences for unexcused absences. School leaders should review crisis response protocols and plans for the possibility of community protests that result in violence. School psychologists and other school-employed mental health professionals should be involved in planning and implementation of this work. The strategies outlined in the handout can help educators reinforce resilient behavior, adaptive coping, and constructive… [Direct]
(2021). Attacks on Critical Race Theory Blemish Era of Race Consciousness. New England Journal of Higher Education, Jun. Last year, shortly after the murder of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others, it seemed as if the world had finally opened their eyes to the everyday reality and fears of Black America. And yet, just after the anniversary of these murders, state legislation is seen in the headlines of various news sites attacking Critical Race Theory (CRT) and actually proposing legislation that would ban teaching history, as it is commonly accepted to be true. The anti-CRT legislation undoubtedly will uphold the inherently white-centric teachings that have been established as our common educational standard. The author believes that anti-CRT legislation is not only an attack on academia and free speech, but also a direct suppression of racial liberation and consequently any racial progression moving forward. It is time that politicians, activists and educators alike take a divisive and definitive stance and decide whether the academy, and whether this democracy, will follow a path of… [Direct]
(2022). Partnering for Literacy Impact. Afterschool Matters, n35 p56-63 Spr. All young people have stories to tell. Yet when children and teens declare that they hate writing or are too embarrassed to admit they like it, elevating their voices becomes challenging. It is urgent that educators, policy makers, youth development workers and leaders, and philanthropists work together to find a way. In the land of free speech, far too many lack the skill to exercise that basic, human, American right. The reasons are complex and systemic, and the resulting reluctance to read and write during free time further widens the skills gap. The good news: taking on this challenge can be life-changing for all involved. In this article, the authors describe how two nonprofits, Goddard Riverside and Writopia Lab, with distinct but overlapping missions partnered to better address the literacy needs of the city of New York's youth. They brought to the partnership a shared vision and radical empathy for the other. They had the support of a steadfast funder. Marrying each… [PDF]
(2023). Muslim Converts as a Heuristic Device for Postsecular Thinking: Agonism as an Alternative Approach. Journal of Religious Education, v71 n3 p297-313. The public resurgence of religious adherence in the West remains one of the defining qualities of this century. If secularisation theory can be understood to articulate the inevitable secularisation of post-enlightenment European societies, religious converts may be understood to epitomise some of the theory's failings. Through a narrative-ethnographic investigation into the identity configurations and educational experiences of fifteen millennial (born between 1981 and 1996) Muslim converts, my doctoral research indicates that these converts tend to construct deeply religious identities, characterised by scriptural literalism. Set within the backdrop of an educational context that some perceive as increasingly censorious, these convert Muslims provide a heuristic device with which to examine the contested public spaces in which religious subjectivity can be expressed. This paper will bring literature challenging the securitisation agenda in education, into conversation with theories… [Direct]
(2021). Rescuing Liberalism from Silencing. Journal of Academic Ethics, v19 n4 p465-481 Dec. In this paper, I criticize two recent and influential arguments for no-platforming advanced by Robert Simpson and Amia Srinivasan and by Neil Levy, respectively. What both arguments have in common is their attempt to reconcile no-platforming with liberal values. For Simpson and Srinivasan, no-platforming does not contradict liberalism if grounded on the distinction between norms of free speech and norms of academic freedom; for Levy, those who defend the practice need not be accused of promoting paternalism. I argue that neither view succeeds: these authors' views are in strong tension with core tenets of liberalism. I proceed as follows: after introducing some basic liberal principles, I explain Simpson and Srinivasan's argument in more detail and argue that it is too strong for some their stated purposes; then I proceed to show that both Simpson and Srinivasan and Levy's arguments would justify extremely closed universities; finally, after arguing that Levy's stance does not… [Direct]
(2022). Enlighten Me: Teaching Social Justice in Further and Higher Education by Reclaiming Philosophically Liberal Values–A Social Work Education Case Study. Journal of Further and Higher Education, v46 n8 p1066-1077. This article suggests that traditional, liberal values that comprise the broad value consensus of most western democracies may be at risk of erosion, especially in further and higher education settings. The factors that may be contributing to their devaluation include: the down-grading of belief in unique individualism and common humanity in favour of reified group identity, the erosion of the importance of 'liberal science' or a liberal definition of what constitutes knowledge, the supplanting of economic social justice concerns with identity matters, and the erosion of free speech. These developments are related to the promotion of a certain type of postmodern social justice critical theory, typified by critical race theory (CRT), and this article will explore their impact on education. Tenets of CRT, as espoused by mainstream writers, will be summarised and contrasted with liberal values to illustrate the concerns raised. In the example of social work education, the case is made… [Direct]
(2024). Perceptions of Academic Freedom in Teaching: Findings from a National Survey of Instructors. ITHAKA S+R Since 2021, people across the political spectrum have become preoccupied with questions of free speech and censorship on college campuses, and state legislators have driven the proliferation of new policies that limit spending and programming related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); alter academic autonomy or shared governance arrangements; and in some cases develop new state oversight mechanisms allowing governments to control, terminate, or alter academic programs. Despite persistent attention from advocacy groups and dramatically increased public awareness over the course of the last six months, actual data on whether or how faculty are being censored or are self-censoring on campus is scant. Against this backdrop, ITHAKA S+R included a short block of questions centered on academic freedom in a national survey of US instructors at four-year colleges and universities. The survey was sent to postsecondary instructors from a wide range of disciplines and at institutions in… [Direct]