ONLINE: The Fight for Free Speech

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UW Alumni Association

UW-Madison professor emeritus Donald Downs.

As with seemingly every topic in our nation's political discourse, the issue of free speech grows increasingly fraught with each passing year. Who decides what is considered "speech," and what are the boundaries? And are the rules changing? Discussing the topic during a Wisconsin Alumni Association livestream are the authors of recent books on the subject: media attorney Ian Rosenberg (The Fight for Free Speech: Ten Cases That Define Our First Amendment Freedoms, NYU Press, 2021) and UW-Madison emeritus professor Donald Downs (Free Speech and Liberal Education, Cato Institute, 2020). Along with moderator Kathleen Bartzen Culver, an associate professor of journalism at UW, the authors will discuss how recent Supreme Court cases could affect free speech questions. Register here for the talk.

media release: Join fellow Badgers at this timely, virtual event with media attorney and author of The Fight for Free Speech (NYU Press, 2021) Ian Rosenberg ’95 and UW professor emeritus Donald Downs, whose most recent book is Free Speech and Liberal Education (Cato Institute, 2020). Together they will discuss how contemporary free-speech questions facing our country and our campuses are impacted by key Supreme Court decisions featured in Rosenberg’s book. The discussion, moderated by Kathleen Bartzen Culver ’88, MA’92, PhD’99, a UW associate professor and the James E. Burgess Chair in Journalism Ethics, is intended to create a practical framework for understanding where our free-speech protections originated and how they can develop in the future. Gain a better understanding of free speech in America and get your questions answered during a live Q & A session.

The speakers

Ian Rosenberg — alumnus, author, teacher, and assistant chief counsel for ABC News

Donald Downs — Alexander Meiklejohn Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Glenn B. and Cleone Orr Hawkins Professor of Political Science Emeritus, affiliate professor emeritus of law and journalism; UW-Madison