"Why We Should Value Campus Free Speech"

Monday, September 18
5:00–6:30 PM
Great Hall, Garrett Hall
Batten School

Bio

Keith E. Whittington is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He is the author of several works on American constitutional politics and history, including the award-winning Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy. His forthcoming books include Repugnant Laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present and Why Free Speech is Central to the Mission of a University.

Abstract

Universities have a distinctive and important mission in American society. They assemble and nurture an open and diverse community of scholars, teachers and students dedicated to the production and dissemination of knowledge. The robust protection of free speech and civil discourse is essential to that mission. Better understanding the relationship between the critical functions of the university and the principles of free speech can help guide us in resolving the difficult challenges that confront the members of modern universities.