BY JOHN K. WILSON
Free Speech Week is being held October 19-25, 2020 to celebrate freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
To help mark Free Speech Week, here are a few events (including one featuring me on October 20) being held on the week (as well as some other academic events this week and during the rest of the fall 2020).
Monday, October 19, 5:30pm ET (via Microsoft Teams) “Pros and Cons of Banning Hate Speech,” Alison Kibler of Franklin and Marshall College.
Tuesday, October 20, 4pm ET, “FIRE Faculty Network Webinar: FIRE’s Free Speech Survey and Rankings.”
Tuesday, October 20, 5:30pm ET (via Microsoft Teams), “Academic Freedom and Free Speech,” Brian Huffman of UW-River Falls and John K. Wilson.
Wednesday, October 21, 1:30pm ET, AAUP Member Webinar: “Shared Governance During a Crisis,” Allison Buskirk-Cohen and Hans-Joerg Tiede discussing the AAUP’s recommended standards for faculty governance.
Wednesday, October 21, 4pm ET: “Scholars at Risk-United States Webinar, All Your Hosting Questions Answered,” experienced university hosts within the SAR United States network will share their perspectives, lessons learned, and best practices for hosting scholars at risk.
Wednesday, October 21, 5:30pm ET (via Microsoft Teams), “Cancel Culture,” JC Hallman and James “Duke” Pesta.
Thursday, October 22, 2pm ET, the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement presents a discussion on “Student Organizing and Activism: Educating to Inspire Principled Action” led by Spoma Jovanovic.
Thursday, October 22, 2pm ET (available for later viewing on Youtube), “The Free Speech Movement: How It All Began.” An interview with Jack Weinberg, whose act of civil disobedience 56 years ago helped launch the highly influential and revolutionary Free Speech Movement.
Thursday, October 22, 4pm ET, Save Ohio Higher Ed is hosting “Shared Governance for the Current Crisis and Beyond: A Primer,” Judith Grant (Ohio University) and Cathy Wagner (Miami University AAUP Chapter President).
Thursday, November 19, 8am-3pm ET: Scholars at Risk invites participation in “Free to Think 2020: Responding to Attacks on Higher Education,” a virtual conference with free registration marking SAR’s 20th anniversary and the release of SAR’s annual monitoring report, Free to Think 2020.
Sunday, November 22, 1-5:30pm ET: 2020 AAUP Biennial Meeting.
If you know of additional free events that might be interesting, please mention them in the comments.
Re.: Monday, October 19, 5:30pm ET (via Microsoft Teams) “Pros and Cons of Banning Hate Speech,” Alison Kibler of Franklin and Marshall College. THERE IS NO SUCH LEGAL ENTITY AS “HATE SPEECH”!!! The Supremes (SCOTUS) have ruled on this at least 3 times, the last time (2017) UNANIMOUSLY.
SO, LET’S STOP USING THIS PHRASE AS IF IT IS AN EXCEPTION TO FREE SPEECH. IT ISN’T.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_in_the_United_States
Clearly, hate speech is a real concept, and whether it should be banned is a matter for debate. In many countries, hate speech is legally prohibited. So we should use the phrase hate speech and discuss what freedom of speech protects. The fact that the Supreme Court (for now) prohibits a total ban on abortion doesn’t mean we should stop debating the issue, and the same is true of hate speech.
Hate speech may be a “concept” but it has no force of law under the U.S. legal system (See the link above in my post.) It may be prohibited in many countries, but I happen to live in the U.S.A., and probably you do too, J. K. Wilson.
I’m all for debate and discussion and attempts to change the law; however, if “hate speech” is ever prohibited, I hope that the legislation will list the SPECIFIC words, ideas, books, and artworks (HUCKLEBERRY FINN, the films of Quentin Tarantino, MEIN KAMPF, nude paintings, THE BOYS IN THE BAND, etc.) that are verboten. Who would have thought that the word “hood” (urban neighborhood) was an example of hate speech, worthy of someone losing a professorship?
Cf.: https://www.academia.edu/23593134/A_Leftist_Critique_of_Political_Correctness_Gone_Amok_Revised_and_Updated
No one has EVER replied to challenge Justice Brandeis’s famous maxim about Free Speech: “f there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. Only an emergency can justify repression.” (Of course, he was a White guy.)