Free speech issues involving academia, corporate speech, hate speech, civil rights and social media are on the schedule this week (Oct. 21-24) during Free Speech Week hosted by University of Wisconsin-Stout’s Center for the Study of Institutions and Innovation (CSII).
All events are free and open to the public. The complete schedule is available on the CSII website.
“Look at the news,” said Tim Shiell, CSII’s director. “Free speech controversies are everywhere all the time — free speech on social media, free speech on campus and free speech and corporations, all of which are on our agenda.
“Our goal during this week is not just to bring issues and different perspectives to people’s attention but to empower people to speak up and out about the issues and show you can have a disagreement about issues and still find things you have in common,” Shiell said. “Just because you disagree doesn’t mean you have to be enemies.”
John McAdams, a Marquette University political science professor who won a high-profile Wisconsin Supreme Court case against the university, will be part a panel discussion on Monday’s opening program. McAdams was suspended by Marquette in late 2014 after he criticized a graduate student by name on his politically conservative blog, opening her to abusive comments on the Internet.
McAdams said the graduate student had limited another student’s ability to speak against same-sex marriage in class. The university accused him of unprofessional conduct, arguing that he should have pursued his concerns through internal university channels. The Supreme Court ruled in July 2018 that McAdams was improperly suspended and ordered the university to reinstate him immediately because his contract protected academic freedom.
Monday’s discussion on “Academic Freedom: The Case of John McAdams” is scheduled from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Cedar and Maple rooms of the Memorial Student Center. The other panelists will be Prof. Paul Secunda, Marquette University Law School, and John K. Wilson, co-editor of Academe Blog. The discussion will be moderated by UW-Stout’s interim Provost, Glendali Rodriguez.
Tuesday programs
Prof. Kent Greenfield, who teaches constitutional and corporate law at the Boston College Law School, will headline Tuesday’s session on “Corporate Speech Rights.”
Greenfield’s 2018 book, Corporations Are People Too (And They Should Act Like It), argues that corporations should have a number of the same constitutional rights that apply to people but should also be subject to some of the laws and expectations that govern or influence people’s actions.
Floyd Abrams, a leading First Amendment scholar and author of The Soul of the First Amendment, wrote, in commenting on the book:
“Greenfield offers thoughtful and often original views on topics ranging from the degree of First Amendment protection that corporations should receive to the nature of corporate behavior that shareholders and the broader public should come to expect.”
Respondents to Greenfield’s remarks will include UW-Stout business law Associate Prof. Paul Lokken, and Rick Esenberg, founder and president and general counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty in Milwaukee. Esenberg was also McAdams’ lawyer.
The session will be moderated by Doug Mell, UW-Stout executive director of University Communications and External Relations. It will be held in Ballroom A of the student center.
Earlier Tuesday, in the same room, UW-Stout’s Interim Chancellor Patrick Guilfoile will moderate a session on ways that universities could respond to hate speech. Panelists will include Associate Prof. Jennifer Lambe, Department of Communication, University of Delaware; Dominique Vargas, UW-Stout’s Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; and David Dinielli, deputy legal director at the Southern Poverty Law Center. The session will run from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday and Thursday programs
From 4 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, UW-Stout Chancellor Emeritus Bob Meyer will moderate a discussion on “Free Speech and Civil Rights.” Panelists will include UW-Eau Claire History Prof. Selika Ducksworth-Lawton, who is also a member of the executive board of the Chippewa Valley Civil Liberties Union; Conor Friedersdorf, a staff writer for The Atlantic; and Scott Skinner-Thompson, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Law School.
From 2:30 to 3:30 that afternoon, UW-Stout students will share their experiences visiting Selma, AL, in a discussion moderated by Jim Handley, senior lecturer in UW-Stout’s Social Science department. Both programs will be held in Ballroom A of the student center.
“Free Speech, Social Media and Universities” is the week’s final event, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, also in Ballroom A.
Panelists include Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education; Franciska Coleman, who was a visiting assistant professor in 2018-19 at the University of Kansas School of Law; and Eric Kasper, associate professor of political science and the director of the Center for Constitutional Studies at UW-Eau Claire. The panel will be moderated by Sandra Scott, UW-Stout dean of students.