Live at the National Constitution Center

Campus Free Speech and Academic Freedom

March 26, 2019

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.

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