Free Speech Dialogues: About the Series

While nearly everyone on a university campus would profess devotion to free speech, people tend to mean differing things by that term and disagree about the exact contours of speech's proper protection. The Free Speech Dialogues were created in order to generate thoughtful, informed discussion of free speech controversies among students. Each semester, a dialogue presents a panel of three speakers offering varying points on a specific free speech battleground.

Related Free Speech Essay Contest

Previous Dialogues:

FREEDOM OF COMMERCIAL SPEECH

• CLARK NEILY - Institute for Justice
• TAMARA PIETY - University of Tulsa
• DAVID BROWN -KUT Radio 

FREE SPEECH AND NATIONAL SECURITY

• HEIDI KITSOSSER - University of Minnesota
• CHARLIE SAVAGE - The New York Times
• SAHIR AZIZ - Texas A&M 

FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND PRIVACY

• JIM HARPER -  Cato Institute
• MARC ROTENBERG - Electronic Privacy Information Center
• FRED CATE - Indiana University 

ARTISTIC EXPRESSION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH

• NORA GILBERT - University of North Texas
• DANIEL JACOBSON -  University of Michigan
• GREG LUKIANOFF - Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)  

FREE SPEECH AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

• NEIL NETANEL, UCLA Law School
• ADAM MOSSOFF, George Mason Law School
• ROBERT LEVINE, Author

PRESS FREEDOM AND THE PUBLICATION OF GOVERNMENT SECRETS

• LINDA GREENHOUSE, Yale Law School and the New York Times
• JACK SHAFER, Reuters News
• MICHAEL KENT CURTIS, Wake Forest Law School       

INFLAMMATORY SPEECH

• NADINE STROSSEN, NY Law School & Former President of the ACLU
• ALEXANDER TSESIS, Loyola University School of Law
• JOHN BURNETT, NPR Correspondent      

POLITICAL SPEECH AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

• BURT NEUBORNE, NYU School of Law
• STEVE SIMPSON, Institute for Justice
• ADAM LIPTAK, The New York Times      

Videos

• Click here to see Tara Smith discuss the Free Speech dialogues
• Click here to see Tara Smith discuss  dialogues vs debates
• Click here to hear Tara Smith discuss the value of free speech
• Click here to hear Tara Smith discuss Free Speech and Intellectual Property
• Click here to hear Tara Smith discuss Digital Technology and Free Speech

Some Organizations Devoted to Free Speech

First Amendment Center, Vanderbilt University
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Free Expression Network
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Speech
Freedom Forum
The First Amendment Project
The Tully Center for Free Speech, Syracuse University
ACLU
Congress Shall Make No Law - Free Speech Blog of the Institute for Justice 

Free Speech... Let's Talk About It.


PROFESSOR TARA SMITH ~ Chair of the BB&T Study of Objectivism

George Washington, Address to officers of the Army (15 March 1783)
"If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."