The growing debate over free speech and political discussion that’s been percolating at major colleges and universities across the country will be explored at the Fredonia during its the Brown Bag Lunch Series hosted by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Stephen Kershnar, chair of the Department of Philosophy and a monthly columnist for The (Dunkirk) Observer, and Jennifer Hildebrand of the Department of History and coordinator of the Ethnic Studies program, will discuss “Issues Surrounding Free Speech on College Campuses” at the Wednesday, Oct. 10, session at noon at Williams Center Room S204-ABC.
Constitutional protection of faculty and student free speech outside the classroom at a state university will be outlined by Dr. Kershnar. He will also apply the boundaries to Fredonia and other universities.
Benefits and challenges associated with the First Amendment’s protection of free speech will be examined by Dr. Hildebrand, with special attention given to hate speech. She will also acknowledge that finding solutions represents a major undertaking for academia.
“Conflicts: Causes and Conflicts” is the theme of this year’s Brown Bag Lunch series, which is free and open to the public.
Yale University, the University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou) and Wesleyan College are among institutions of higher education that have wrestled with free speech on campus. The resulting dicey debates at these and other schools have been reported by major news outlets that include The New York Times, The Atlantic and PBS, as well as The Chronicle of Higher Education.
