This article presents a teaching case that involves the presentation of an actual incident in which a state commission on judicial performance had to balance a judge's First Amendment rights to protected free speech against his public statements about a societal class/group that were deemed to be derogatory and inflammatory and, hence, cast…

Reviews some of the literature on issues and cases in freedom of expression and First Amendment rights used in teaching a speech communication class about "Issues in Free Speech." (JMF)

Assesses outcomes of instruction in three college-senior-level courses on freedom of expression. Suggests that increased attention to freedom-of-expression issues may have resulted in broader understanding of First Amendment issues, and individual and media rights. Notes that students seem to develop an appreciation of the reflexive nature of…

A collection of 12 articles, this yearbook focuses on freedom of speech and censorship. The topics covered include (1) common law tort and contract erosion of the at will rule, (2) the Supreme Court and the First Amendment in 1983-1984, (3) a phenomenological analysis of the First Amendment and the issue of obscenity, (4) John Milton's attack on…

A strictly legal rights approach to freedom of expression is inadequate because it fails to acknowledge that such freedom rests on a set of assumptions that are not adequately met in the United States, and so make that system ineffectual. The first assumption is that speech can influence the beliefs and behavior of those to whom it is addressed;…

Examines how closely academic freedom and the First Amendment actually are related. Traces the development of academic freedom as a constitutional right from shortly before World War II to the present. Analyzes influences exerted by intramural speech, institutional or corporate academic freedom, and professional liability. (KEH)

Teaching freedom of speech to undergraduates is a difficult task, in part as a result of the challenging history of free expression in the United States. The difficulty is compounded by the need to teach the topic, in contrast to indoctrinating the students in an ideology of free speech. The Bill of Rights, and specifically the First Amendment,…

A collection of nine articles, this yearbook focuses on freedom of speech and censorship. The topics covered include (1) judicial invention in First Amendment governmental regulation cases, (2) the impact of the Moral Majority on book censorship; (3) Justice William Brennan's championship of the First Amendment, (4) the legal tactics that public…

Discusses the use of sexist expression by men against women in a school context, both in the classroom and on school grounds. Includes discourse ranging from direct intimidation or harassment to utterances that, though derogatory, are statements of an ideology or a point of view. (KEH)

The speech communication department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, provides a rigorous and legally oriented course in freedom of speech. The objectives of the course are to help students gain insight into the historical and philosophical foundations of the First Amendment, the legal/judicial processes concerning the First Amendment, and…

Two recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court have emasculated First Amendment guarantees for military personnel. In the first case, Parker v. Levy, an Army captain urged enlisted Special Forces personnel at his post to refuse to go to Viet Nam, claiming that "Special Forces personnel are liars and thieves and killers of peasants…

Discusses a court case involving a student's use of puns in an assembly speech, Shakespeare's use of puns, the relationship between banning offensive words and the censorship of ideas, and the difficulty with placing a ban on the expression of "indecent" puns and double entendre and of deciding what is "appropriate." (EL)

The Law section of the Proceedings contains the following 10 papers: "The Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994: Does Congress Have the Constitutional Authority to Override State FOI Laws by Regulating Access to State Driver's Licenses?" (Joey Senat); "The Truth Hurts: Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress as a Cause of…

The essays of this collection explore the restriction of speech and the hate speech codes that attempt to restrict bigoted or offensive speech and punish those who engage in it. These essays generally argue that speech restrictions are dangerous and counterproductive, but they acknowledge that it is very difficult to distinguish between…

The six articles in this collection deal with theoretical and practical freedom of speech issues. Topics covered are (1) freedom of expression and the Mormons for the Equal Rights Amendment (R. J. Jensen); (2) the U.S. Supreme Court and the First Amendment (W. A. Linsley); (3) antipornography campaigns (R. McGaffey); (4) the human rights advocacy…