Speech Codes on College Campuses

Per. 1-9/24, Per. 6-9/25
Over the last few days, we've explored issues of hate speech on college campuses.  Now that you have a general understanding of the laws, it's important to see how those might be applied in settings that you may experience as you head into your college years.  To do so, please follow the instructions belos.

1. Go to the FIRE website and read their mission statement and what they are about. 
2. Look at the "What are Speech Codes?" article so that you understand how FIRE is defining them.
3. Go to "Using FIRE's Spotlight" in order to understand how to use their database.
4. Go to the database and select a college or university that you have an interest in.
5. On your blog, write a post that responds to the following:
• Describe your chosen university's speech codes (or lack of them).  How do your university’s policies or restrictions on free speech impact you as a prospective student? Does it influence or change the way you view the school? Do you believe that your university’s speech codes are legal or do they infringe on your rights to free speech?  Make connections to the description of the law that you read for class today.
6. Next, watch this story about an incident at Penn State University.
   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/50100377#50100377
7. Then, recall the images that we began our discussions with  here and read these stories that provide some additional detail about them.
8. Then read these stories about controversy surrounding a "Tacos and Tequila" party at the University of Illinois.
• Now, in a continuation of your post that you began above, consider how the university you explored in #5 above might have reacted to these parties on their campuses?  Work to apply their speech codes to these incidents.  Would you agree or disagree with their reaction? 
9. Next, write a concluding thought.   Do you agree with FIRE's definitions of what constitutes a speech code? Are the “restrictions” and codes they point out necessarily harmful or do they protect students? If you went to a university with a speech code how would you feel; safe or restricted? 
10. Spend any remaining time looking at other class members' blogs.  Try to comment on at least two.

NOTE-This does NOT count for your weekly blog post although you may decide to continue to explore this issue in your blogs over the weekend.
NOTE 2-Please look at the Unit One Tab above for important information about the unit assessment.

Free Speech on College Campuses

Yesterday in class we began a discussion about hate speech on college campuses by looking at these images.  We then continued our discussion by "virtually attending" a law school seminar about the topic. As we watched the video we took notes by identifying the facts in the scenarios being discussed, responding with our opinions, and then writing what the experts on the panel said. If you missed class yesterday, you should be sure to get notes from a fellow class member.

During the next class period, we'll continue watching the seminar and then reading the article Hate Speech & Campus Speech Codes which must be finished by our the last period that we meet this week.

Note-part of our conversation in first period today discussed questions about how to identify hate speech which brought up the issue of anti-Semitic speech on college campuses. There has been a lot of discussion in the media about antisemitism on college campuses as a result of a few incidents that took place last spring. Here is a thoughtful commentary on the issue for your consideration.

Catching up with the blogs

First, complete this QUIZ pertaining to the Texas v. Johnson that you read for homework today.

After completing your quiz, spend some time exploring the news. See what happened in the Republican presidential candidate debate last night; get an update about the Syrian refugee crisis; identify any other news stories that seem significant.  Then, take some time to do your blog post for this week. When finished, look at the blogs of the people in your assigned group below. Read a few of their posts and then choose one recent one to post a comment on. Your comment should be at least a few sentences long, agreeing or disagreeing with the post, explaining why and posing a question.

Period 1

Evan Brittany Bijan	Ashley Josh	Elena Lizzie	Claude Rebecca (Horwitz)
Nick Billy	Isaac Rachel	Will Annie	Sara Emily
Morgan Dylan	Dillon Kyle	David Ben	Jamie AJ
Jake Noah	Hillary Becca

Period 6

Lindsey Justin	Jovan Tommy	Nathan Kyle	Jared Lexi	Rosie Ryan
Max MacKenzie	Marnie Alex	Sophia David	Isabel Will	Lizzie Noah
Caroline Nick	Riley Britney	Michael Ricky	George Lucy

Flag Burning

During the next class period we'll be discussing Morse v. Frederick. When finished, we'll move on to a discussion of flag burning which we'll get into by watching the short film "...for which it stands: Flag Burning and the First Amendment". Following a discussion about the film, we'll read excerpts from the Court's opinions in the Texas v. Johnson case.  Students should print, read and annotate it for the next class period.

Morse v. Frederick

After concluding our discussion on Seven Days in September we'll return to the Morse v. Frederick case.  With a partner, you'll discuss and respond to the questions found in this DOCUMENT. You and your partner should make a copy of the list of questions and then share it in a google doc. Make sure both of your names are at the top and place your finished work in your Issues folders on your google drive.  This will be a graded assignment. I'm assessing how well you're able to read and understand the law (Supreme Court opinions).

9/11

For the next two class periods, we are going to pause our look at students' rights and freedom of speech to consider the impact of 9/11 on the nation. We'll use the film Seven Days in September to guide our discussion. We'll try to make connections between some of the ideas we've already been looking at in class and some of the scenes from the film. We will return to our main unit on Tuesday.

What Speech Can Schools Prohibit?

Today in class we continued our discussion of free speech in schools by beginning to take a look at the Morse v. Frederick case. Students should be sure to have read, annotated and understood the packet prior to their next class period.

Freedom of Speech Day 3

Finished going over the Tinker v. Des Moines case. Spent time looking at both the Majority and Dissenting Opinions. Finished class by doing the "How Does a School Define Disruptive Speech" activity in the packet. HW was to read and annotate the For Further Thought cases.

Freedom of Speech Day Two

(Per. 1: 9/2, Per. 6: 9/3)
We finished discussing the case studies, exploring the limitations on the First Amendment. Then we introduced the Tinker v. Des Moines case by reading the background summary and classifying the arguments.
HW for your next class period is to read and annotate the excerpts from the Majority Opinion and the excerpts from the Dissenting Opinion. Be prepared to answer questions 1, 2, and 3 from each.