UA SYMPOSIUM FOCUSES ON CENSORSHIP, FREE SPEECH AND FREE PRESS IN THE UNIVERSITY
The speakers are a politically diverse group including David French of The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Donald A. Downs, a University of Wisconsin professor and author of Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus, and John K. Wilson, author of The Myth of Political Correctness.
L and P readers are urged to attend. Here is a draft of the news release:
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Professors, authors, editors and other experts on freedom of expression speech will speak at the Bankhead Historical Symposium titled “Censorship, Free Speech and Free Press in the University” held Oct. 13 and 14 on The University of Alabama campus.
The symposium is free and open to the public.
The two-day event, co-sponsored by the UA department of history, UA Libraries, student and faculty organizations, will begin with a reception and opening the “Banned in Bama” exhibit at the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall on Hackberry Lane, Thursday, Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
On Friday, Oct. 14, at Ferguson Center Forum Room from 9 a.m. until 5:15 p.m., Ttopics will include “You Can’t Say That! Censorship of Free Speech on Campus,” “We Dare Defend Our Rights: Teaching and Research,” “Minorities and Freedom of Expression on Campus and in Campus Media” and “ Information Wants to be Free – Controlling Access to the Web.”
The symposium will conclude with a gala at the Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art at 7:30 on Friday.
Panelists at the symposium sessions in the Ferguson Center in the Forum room include
▪ Donald A. Downs, professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison, author of “Restoring Free Speech and Liberty on Campus”
David French, president, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Philadelphia, PA
▪ John K. Wilson, Illinois State University, author of “The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education”
▪ Earl H. Tilford, professor, Grove City College (PA); former Director of Research, U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute; author and editor, Air University Review
▪ Douglas Ray, executive editor, The Tuscaloosa News
▪ Wayne Grytting, teacher, Seattle Public Schools; Internet columnist, author of “American Newspeak”
▪ Bruce Barrett, UA associate professor
▪ David Beito, UA associate professor, Alabama Observer editor
▪ Maarten Ultee, UA professor “We have sought varied points of view in academia and the news media,” said Dr. Maarten Ultee and David Beito, symposium organizers and professors of history at UA. history professor. “We are, although,Although our perspectives differ, we are united by common concerns about about limits on freedom of expression in American universities.”
In 1982, the Bankhead family established the Bankhead Endowment Fund to further the interests of historical research and scholarly activity within the history department of in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences. In recent years, the family expanded the original commission The Bankhead Fund to bringhas supported visiting lecturers to campus and to further promote the teaching and study of history, Bankhead Postdoctoral Fellows, conferences, faculty research projects, and public symposia.