(1975). Language, Cognition, and Social Factors in the Regulation of Aggressive Behavior: A Study of Black, Puerto Rican, and White Children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the Language Agression Hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that measurable high language proficiency is associated with low observable aggression and low language proficiency is associated with high observable aggression. Consideration was also given to qualitative differences in aggressive behaviors as a function of family income, race, age, number of parents in household, and school membership. Further data on differences in free speech and its relationship to the former variable were treated. The subjects were 55 black, 25 Puerto Ricans, and 50 white male fourth, fifth and sixth graders selected from schools within the Newark public school system. Aggression was measured using an adaptation of the physical and verbal categories employed by Walter Pearce and Dahms. The vocabulary subtest of the WISC, Metropolitan Reading Test (Elementary Form), and measures of free speech were used to measure language proficiency of subjects. The…
(1977). An Investigation of the Relationship between Public Opinion and Supreme Court Decisions. Public opinion polls about freedom of speech issues during a 30-year period (1937-70) were compared with Supreme Court decisions for the same period to determine the effects of public sentiment on judicial decision making. Two-thirds of the decisions conformed to a constitutionality model (that the Court should always uphold the First Amendment regardless of majority public opinion). However, a public opinion model (that the Court should always heed public opinion in its decision making) explained the outcomes one-third of the time when one of two conditions obtained: either when at least 35% to 40% of the population supported free speech for political extremists, or when a low level of public opinion was in favor of free speech. Dominance of the public opinion model was greatly apparent during two periods of public hostility against Communists and during one period of strong public feeling against antiwar demonstrators. Further support of the public opinion model comes from a graph… [PDF]
(1968). A Study of the Communicative Abilities of Disadvantaged Children. Final Report. The purpose of this series of four studies was to precisely describe the code and dialect features of the speech of both lower class Negro children and middle class white children. In the first study, 16 white middle class (WMC) children were compared to 16 Negro lower class (NLC) children on both an imitation and a comprehension task. The WMC subjects scored significantly higher on both tasks, even after the scores of the NLC subjects on the imitation tasks were improved by adjusting them for differences of dialect in the children's responses. No adjustment, however, was made for the administering of both tasks in standard English. The second study took free speech samples from 20 NLC and 20 WMC 5-year-olds to discover any possible linguistic code variations between groups. The WMC subjects showed a significantly superior range of syntactic structures, but there was no significant difference between groups in the use of specific types of complex sentences. The same free speech… [PDF]
(1984). School Officials and the Courts: Update 1984. ERS Monograph. This is the seventh in a series of Educational Research Service (ERS) monographs designed to summarize judicial decisions on elementary and secondary education issues by state and federal courts. These cases, dating from June 30, 1983 to June 30, 1984, were selected on the basis of their relevance to contemporary problems in public schools, their definitiveness as articulations of existing law, and their reliability as consistent guides to educational policymaking and practice. The first chapter reviews cases pertaining to school boards and board members, covering such issues as school integration, investigative powers, reduction in force, and contract authority. The second, pertaining to administrators, covers free speech issues, evaluation, discrimination, and salary and tenure cases. The third chapter covers finance issues, while the fourth deals with collective bargaining law. The fifth chapter discusses cases on issues pertaining to teachers, such as cause for dismissal, union…
(1983). America's Public Classrooms: The Courts and Radical In-Class Utterances. America's legal-educational history is filled with scores of cases of alleged radical teachers who have been legally excluded or removed from public school positions. Only a few of these cases have involved the First Amendment issue of inclass utterances by radicals. Such cases are significant because they highlight the established society's attitude toward free speech and antithetical sociopolitical views. Until recently that attitude could be characterized as primarily repressive. Even now there is no guarantee that the tolerant attitude and opinions expressed in "Keyishian vs. Board of Regents" and "Communist Party of Indiana vs. Whitcomb" will not be reversed. Indeed, because the courts reflect as much as they shape the trends of the times, the history of United States judicial decisions suggests that such attitudes might be reversed at any moment. Certainly, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes's concept of "clear and present danger" enables the courts to…
(2006). Talking about Israel: 3 Responses. Chronicle of Higher Education, v53 n17 pB16 Dec. Alan Wolfe's article "Free Speech, Israel, and Jewish Illiberalism" prompted numerous responses on The Chronicle's online discussion forum. The essay commented on the debate that erupted following the Polish Consulate's decision to cancel a speech by the scholar Tony Judt–allegedly prompted by protests over his critical views of Israel from the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups–and the numerous petitions in support of his right to speak that were signed by leading scholars and intellectuals around the country. This article notes the responses of Abraham H. Foxman, national director at Anti-Defamation League, Norman Birnbaum, professor emeritus at Georgetown University Law Center, and Harvey Cox, divinity professor at Harvard University, to the article written by Wolfe…. [Direct]
(1983). School Officials and the Courts: Update 1983. ERS Monograph. Sixth in a series providing a scope treatment of case law on a wide range of public school issues, this monograph reviews selected federal and state decisions handed down between June 30, 1982 and June 30, 1983. School board issues covered include at-large election, open meeting laws, and authority to close schools, reduce slaries, interpret disciplinary policy, and limit information dissemination. Decisions involving administrators include certification and licensure, suspension, corporal punishment, tenure, nepotism, and discrimination. Finance issues include tax deduction for educational expenses, misapplication of federal funds, and charging nonresident tuition and activity fees. Cases concerning collective bargaining involve mandatory subjects, selection and authority of bargaining representative, seniority versus affirmative action, cost-of-living clauses, contract enforcement, grievance administration, and bias-in-strike resolutions. A section on teachers reviews decisions on…
(1978). New Directions in Mass Communications Policy: Implications for Citizen Education and Participation. This paper, the second in a series of five on the current state of citizen education, focuses on mass communication. The following topics are discussed: communications today; the system of freedom of expression; social science research on the media (includes the audience and public information); minorities and the media; public broadcasting; television: violence and children's programming; public service advertising (includes advocacy advertising and free speech messages); the Communications Act of 1978; communication technologies; and the communication system and the future. (EM)… [PDF]
(2010). Teen Cyberbullying Investigated: Where Do Your Rights End and Consequences Begin?. Free Spirit Publishing The Internet age has led to a different kind of teen bullying: cyberbullying. What is cyberbullying and what can teens do about it? In \Teen Cyberbullying Investigated,\ Judge Tom Jacobs presents a powerful collection of landmark court cases involving teens and charges of cyberbullying and cyberharassment. This riveting, informative guide will help young people understand what cyberbullying is and is not, recognize when they may be its victims or perpetrators, and learn tactics for successfully dealing with it. What can young people do about this new type of bullying? In his timely book, Judge Jacobs shares a wealth of knowledge, ideas, suggestions, and expert opinions honed from his years as a juvenile court judge, law professor, and author. Each chapter features a seminal cyberbullying case and resulting decision, asks readers whether they agree with the decision, and urges them to think about how the decision affects their lives. Chapters also include related cases, tips,… [Direct]
(1990). Morality, Responsibility, and the University. Studies in Academic Ethics. This book presents 14 essays from American philosophers who critically investigate the moral issues generated by academic life. Topics addressed include free speech on campus, justifications for tenure, faculty appointment and evaluation procedures, the differing demands of research and teaching, sexual harassment, parietal rules, business/university partnerships, and the ideal of institutional neutrality. Essays and their authors are as follows: "Human Rights and Academic Freedom" (Alan Gewirth); "Free Speech on Campus" (Judith Wagner DeCew); "Tenure: Academe's Peculiar Institution" (Andrew Oldenquist); "Ethics in Academic Personnel Processes: The Tenure Decision" (Rudolph H. Weingartner); "The Research Demands of Teaching in Modern Higher Education" (Theodore M. Benditt); "The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth" (Paul D. Eisenberg); "The Ethics of Graduate Teaching" (Robert Audi);…
(1985). Faculty Dismissal: Comparison of Public and Private Higher Education. In problems pertaining to faculty dismissal, public higher education institutions are subject to both constitutional and contractual constraints, whereas private schools are subject almost solely to self-imposed contractual limitations. In public institutions, teachers alleging termination for protected free speech bear the burden of establishing that fact. However, when the faculty member alleges protected free speech activity prior to the institution's decision for termination, the institution must prove that the faculty member would not have been renewed in any event, according to "Mt. Healthy City Board of Education v. Doyle" (1974). In a recent noneducation case, "Connick v. Meyers" (1983), the Supreme Court significantly restricted the First Amendment protected rights of speech of public employees only to matters of public concern. Courts have consistently refused to find state action in nonpublic schools. In private institutions, the written contract,…
(1987). A Stock Approach to Value Debate. Existing theories of value debating (resolutions dealing with values rather than policy) may be more effectively applied and developed when viewed as stock issues paradigms for debating values in competitive situations. Issues are vital to an advocate's cause because they are essential to the meaning of a proposition and can also provide an organization structure for a debate. However, debate judges often experience difficulty reaching objective and fair decisions when values become the focus of a debate. A solution to this problem may be found in the "stock issues approach." Values can be defined as acts or customs regarded in a particular and favorable way (e.g. privacy or free speech). Three stock issues for debating values that can be applied in the judging process are value criterion, value justification, and value objection. Value criterion consists of defining terms that imply value dimensions. Value justification is a designative issue that determines whether the…
(1976). The Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Students in Connecticut Public Schools. Educational legislation (both state and federal) and court decisions relevant to student rights and responsibilities in Connecticut public schools are presented in this handbook. Chapters cover the right to suitable education free from discrimination; First Amendment constitutional rights of free speech, association, and religion; search and seizure; drugs, personal problems, and confidential communications; school services and personnel; school discipline; student records; the rights and responsibilities attained at age 18 and under; and examples of illegal student behavior. The task force that assembled this handbook intends to include policy recommendations in a separate document. (Author/DS)… [PDF]
(1979). Employees. The bulk of this chapter is devoted to three areas of contention: discrimination in employment (including discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, age, and handicapping condition), the discipline and dismissal of employees (including separate discussions of such causes as insubordination, neglect of duty, unprofessional conduct, incompetence, and reduction in force), and constitutional issues (both procedural matters and substantive matters of free speech, academic freedom, substantive due process, and privacy and association). Also included are discussions of litigation surrounding questions of tenure, remedies for improper action, salary disputes, leaves of absence, and retirement. (IRT)…
(1965). REPORT ON A SURVEY OF ATTITUDES ON CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES. IN JANUARY OF 1965, THE COLLEGE ASKED 477 POLITICAL SCIENCE I STUDENTS TO COMPLETE A QUESTIONNAIRE INDICATING THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARD SEVERAL CONTROVERSIAL CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS SHOWED A RELATION OF ATTITUDES TO SEX AND AGE. VERY GENERALLY, WOMEN STUDENTS HELD FEWER POLARIZED AND MORE PACIFISTIC OPINIONS IN POLITICAL MATTERS THAN MEN. MEN, AS A GROUP, INDICATED GREATER OPPOSITION TO CIVIL RIGHTS EFFORTS. OLDER STUDENTS SHOWED MORE UNFAVORABLE REACTIONS TO THE BERKELEY "FREE SPEECH" DEMONSTRATIONS. REPONSES TO EACH QUESTION ON THE FORM ARE ANALYZED IN DETAIL IN THE REPORT. (AD)… [PDF]