(1985). Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving the Way for Campus Activism. OAH Magazine of History, v1 n1 p16-18 Apr. The Free Speech Movement (FSM) at Berkeley during the 1960s demonstrated to students nationwide that effective protest movements could be built on campus and that engaging in such dissident activity was not un-American but was, in fact, their moral and political right. The history of this movement is discussed. (RM)…
(2012). Sticks, Stones–And Words, Too?. Chronicle of Higher Education, Jun. Jeremy Waldron, a professor of social and political theory at University of Oxford and also a professor of law at New York University, contends that laws against hate speech deserve further consideration, even if he doubts they "will ever pass constitutional muster in America." He contends that "The Harm in Hate Speech," as his title has it, begins with American legal tradition flatly declining to prohibit it. As a result, "hate speech" or "group libel" is allowed to damage individuals' social standing–the "fundamentals of basic reputation"–which American democracy ostensibly guarantees. Deeply ingrained in American jurisprudence is a belief that offensive speech should be countered with other speech, not the force of law. But "group libel," Waldron contends, "is both a calculated affront to the dignity of vulnerable members of society and a calculated assault on the public good of inclusiveness." It maligns and… [Direct]
(2009). ASBO at 100: A Supreme Court Retrospective on Religion, Student Rights, and Employee Rights. School Business Affairs, v75 n2 p36-40 Feb. In the opening sentence of his May 1949 article in this journal, Ward W. Keesecker was on the mark in writing, \What the Supreme Court of the United States has said pertaining to State school administration and how their decisions affect the rights and privileges of individuals are matters of wide interest and concern to school business officials and teachers generally\ (p. 1). Based on the role that the Supreme Court has assumed in shaping American education, this column reviews key cases dealing with religious issues in schools, student rights, and employee rights to due process and free speech. As this column demonstrates, Supreme Court cases involving the rights of students and school employees have had a profound effect on the lives of school business officials, other education leaders, and everyone else associated with public education. As ASBO embarks on its second century, the only thing about which its members can be certain is that the Court will continue to resolve cases… [PDF] [Direct]
(1981). Constitutional Protection for Whistle Blowers: Has the First Amendment Called in Sick?. Free speech for the public employee is much more limited than free speech in the society at large. The courts have been unwilling to extend free speech protection carte blanche and have instead cautiously attempted to define what speech would be allowed or prohibited in public organizations. This approach is illustrated in four areas of court concern: (1) the controversy between internal versus external communication, (2) the establishment of criteria to distinguish protected from unprotected speech, (3) the scrutiny of organizational regulations, and (4) the case of organizational members refusing to participate in certain activities. Regardless of what free speech protections are available to an employee, they are only as good as the employee's ability to press a free speech claim. Two practical problems are involved in this: lack of due process hearings and the complexity of organizational punishments. It is clear, then, that while the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the…
(2006). Spotlight on Speech Codes 2006: The State of Free Speech on Our Nation's Campuses. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (NJ1) This year, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) conducted an expansive study of just how pervasive and how onerous restrictions on speech are at America's colleges and universities. Between September 2005 and September 2006, FIRE surveyed over 330 schools and found that an overwhelming majority of them explicitly prohibit speech that, outside the borders of campus, is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Highlights from FIRE's research include: (1) Davidson College in North Carolina prohibits "comments or inquiries about dating," "patronizing remarks," "innuendoes," and "dismissive comments"; (2) At Jacksonville State University in Alabama, students can be punished if they "offend" anyone "on university owned or operated property"; and (3) At the University of Mississippi, "offensive language is not to be used" over the telephone. This report is intended to serve as a brief… [PDF]
(2002). The Legal Standard on the Scope of Teachers' Free Speech Rights in the School Setting. Journal of Law & Education, v31 n4 p413-30 Oct. Explores tests for determining teachers' free-speech rights established in two Supreme Court decisions: "Pickering" and "Connick." Analysis includes discussion of confusion between teacher's status as a citizen and that of an employee. Concludes that courts should use the balancing principle in "Pickering" to determine the scope of the First Amendment free-speech clause for public employees. (Contains 75 references.) (PKP)…
(2010). Everything Is Connected. Quarterly Journal of Speech, v96 n4 p421-426 Nov. In this article, the author shares his experience and insights gained from his experience that he continued to carry in his role as a teacher, researcher, and cultural producer. In his own work, the author seeks to blur the distinction between scholarship, everyday life, and the arts. Working alone and with other people, he has written books, published articles, and–in an attempt to translate his scholarship for a wider audience–he also makes educational documentaries. By turning a chapter from his book into a documentary, the author tells the same tale, but in an audiovisual medium. He points out that his interest in copyright and free speech is the primary reason he publishes his academic work under a Creative Commons license and other forms of open access publishing. He contends that one of the stupidest ways scholars can limit their engagement with the public is to block it behind a password-protected firewall. There are also very practical, self-interested reasons why scholars… [Direct]
(2010). Quantitative Analyses in a Multivariate Study of Language Attrition: The Impact of Extralinguistic Factors. Second Language Research, v26 n1 p125-160. Most linguistic processes–acquisition, change, deterioration–take place in and are determined by a complex and multifactorial web of language internal and language external influences. This implies that the impact of each individual factor can only be determined on the basis of a careful consideration of its interplay with all other factors. The present study investigates to what degree a number of sociolinguistic and extralinguistic factors, which have been previously demonstrated or claimed to be relevant in the context of language attrition, can account for individual differences in first language (L1) proficiency. Data were collected from attriting populations with German as their L1: one in a Dutch language context (n = 53) and one in a Canadian English setting (n = 53). These groups were compared to a reference group of Germans in Germany (n = 53). Overall, the proposed outcome measures (derived from both formal tasks and a free speech task) are argued to be stable and valid… [Direct]
(1989). A Legal Guide to Public Employee Free Speech in North Carolina. Determining whether an employee's First Amendment free speech interests should prevail over legitimate employer concerns for an efficient workplace is a difficult question that this book attempts to answer. To give public employers and public employees an understanding of the legal framework in which free speech issues are decided is the purpose of this book. The first section traces the development of the public employee free speech right in the decisions of the United States Supreme Court, setting forth the basic analytical framework within which these cases are decided. The second section focuses more closely on the variables within the Supreme Court's analytical framework by examining a number of lower court decisions, paying particular attention to the decisions of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the North Carolina federal district courts, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. (SI)… [PDF]
(1996). Workplace Violence, Hate Crime and Free Speech: A Proactive Approach. For community colleges, crime on campus is a complex and pressing issue since most maintain open campuses with no physical security features, such as entry control points or fencing. Workplace crimes can take the form of robbery or other violent crimes, domestic and misdirected affection cases, employer-directed situations, terrorism, and hate crimes. Hate crimes, or acts or threats against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, gender, or ethnicity, can have an impact on campus life much greater than other violent crimes. Further, it can often be difficult to distinguish hate crimes from constitutionally protected rights to free speech. To achieve a safe campus, it is important to understand how to manage threats and recognize the different levels of destructive anger that individuals might display, from feelings of being upset to blind rage. In any threat management effort, it is also important that a proactive approach be taken and… [PDF]
(1992). Not an Empty Box with Beautiful Words on It: The First Amendment in Progressive Era Scholarship. Journalism Quarterly, v69 n1 p37-47 Spr. Examines the literature of the Progressive Era (1900-14) dealing with the meaning of free speech and press in theoretical terms. Suggests that early twentieth-century legal scholars gave new interpretations to the constitutional free press and speech guarantees and that the era was an important turning point in the evolution of our free press and free speech values. (PRA)…
(2010). Embedded Advertising on Television: Classic Legal Environment and Business Law Content \Brought to You by …\. Journal of Legal Studies Education, v27 n2 p209-246 Sum-Fall. Students are familiar with some or all depictions of branded products in popular television shows. But they probably have no idea the number of legal and public policy issues these product appearances are generating. This article explains how embedded advertising in television shows can be the attention-grabbing vehicle for teaching numerous concepts commonly covered in legal environment and business law courses. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) uses the term \embedded advertising\ to describe two different, but related, marketing strategies: (1) product placement; and (2) product integration. Product placement is the use of a branded product as a prop in a production, for a fee. Product integration involves incorporating the branded product into the dialogue or plot of the sponsored program. The author analyzes these expanding marketing practices relative to numerous concepts that are taught in business law or legal environment courses. After discussing ways to introduce… [Direct]
(1995). Levin, Jeffries, and the Fate of Academic Autonomy. Public Interest, n120 p14-40 Sum. Examines whether federal courts and the application of free-speech standards in academia are the proper ways to deal with the difficult issues faced by higher education. The author argues that they are not, and uses the Levin and Jeffries free-speech cases to illustrate this. (GR)…
(1995). Free Speech and Copyright in Cyberspace: Legal Issues Surrounding the Internet. Online Libraries and Microcomputers, v13 n3 p1-4 Mar. A characterization of the following major legal and political issues surrounding the Internet provides a framework for the future development of the Internet and cyberspace: free speech (libel); intellectual property rights (copyright); jurisdictional questions; and privacy. (AEF)…
(1979). How Does First-Week Intro Class Support Free Speech?. Journalism Educator, v33 n4 p103-05 Jan. An exercise requiring students in an introductory mass communications course to comment on issues in a freedom of speech case revealed that students may be more supportive of freedom of speech than is sometimes thought. (RL)…