Is Campus Protest Protected Speech?

Geoffrey Stone (Law, University of Chicago)
“Free Speech on Campus: A Challenge of Our Times”
UWM Student Union Ballroom

*View the full recorded video of Geoffrey Stone’s talk here or in the video player below.

In “Free Speech on Campus: A Challenge of Our Times,” University of Chicago Law Professor Geoffrey Stone will address the broad issue of academic freedom and the challenges of free speech on campus today, including a discussion of the issue of protest in relation to the new University of Wisconsin regulations. Questions to be addressed include “How does the principle of freedom of expression—and the law of the First Amendment—apply in the context of higher education? What speech must be tolerated and what are the boundaries of counter-protest?”

Geoffrey Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, where he has previously served as Dean of the Law School (1987-1994) and Provost (1994-2002). Stone was also appointed to the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies by President Barack Obama, a national review group tasked with evaluating U.S. surveillance programs following Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks in 2013. Recipient of multiple accolades, he was recently awarded the American Library Association’s James Madison Award (2014) as well as having been honored as a “Legal Legend” by the American Constitution Society.

In addition to his most recent book, Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion and Law from America’s Origins to the Twenty-First Century (2017), Stone has also published and edited numerous books on constitutional law, including Speaking Out: Reflections of Law, Liberty and Justice (2010), Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime (2004), and Eternally Vigilant: Free Speech in the Modern Era (2002).

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This event is the second of a three-part series on Regulating Speech in the University, part of a year-long university-wide exploration of Freedom of Expression, sponsored by the UWM Chancellor’s Office. Because speech (including peaceful assembly) has always been regulated and protected in the United States, beginning with the First Amendment, the aim of the series is not to ask if speech should be regulated but rather how it should be regulated on campus in an era of heightened political tensions and social media attention. The other two events are “Race and Free Speech on Campus–Then and Now” (February 9) and “Social Media and Academic Freedom” (April 13).

Cosponsor: UWM Global Inclusion & Engagement