To: All Faculty <everybody@illinois.edu> 
    From: "Professor Nicholas Burbules, SEC Chair" <burbules@illinois.edu>
Reply-To: damrau@illinois.edu

 Subject: MASSMAIL - Can You Really Speak Freely on a Public Campus?

September 14, 2008

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing as Chair of the Senate Executive Committee to let you all 
know about an important series of events being planned this year by the 
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, with participation 
among faculty, students and staff across the campus.

The series is entitled:

Campus Uncensored? Your Rights, Freedoms, and Responsibilities

Purpose: The University is deeply committed to creating and maintaining an 
inclusive, just, and respectful learning community. The University of 
Illinois welcomes and encourages all of its students, faculty, and staff 
to embrace the marketplace of ideas as part of the educational experience. 
It is in this spirit that in 2008-09 the campus will sponsor a series of 
events that highlights the vital roles and meanings of the First Amendment 
and Academic Freedom at the University of Illinois. This program of 
activities has three goals:

To broaden our understanding of the First Amendment. This includes both 
historical and contemporary analyses, and conversations about your rights 
to free speech and other freedoms granted by this amendment;

To enhance awareness of the responsibilities that accompany these 
constitutional rights and freedoms, and;

To encourage students, faculty, and staff to use this understanding and 
awareness for personal and collective application on the campus and in 
everyday life.

The first of the scheduled events is coming this week:

Robert O'Neil 
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm 
213 Gregory Hall
 
"Can You Really Speak Freely on a Public Campus?" 

The question "Can You Really Speak Freely on a Public Campus?' is 
deceptively simple. While one might readily assume that a state university 
should provide the freest of all settings, and while it is so in certain 
respects, there are complications. For example, a professor could be 
penalized or even dismissed for egregious plagiarism that would violate no 
civil or criminal laws off campus. This lecture will look more critically 
at this contrast between the public campus and the broader society by 
focusing on three current and contentious issues - regulation of sexually 
harassing speech, restriction of postings by 
extreme animal-rights protesters, and control of profanity and other 
unwelcome speech at state university athletic events. 

Subsequent events will be planned throughout the year, including a faculty 
panel on these issues in February. Watch for more information as the 
schedule is completed:

http://www.studentaffairs.illinois.edu/diversity/uncensored.html

Clearly, first amendment and academic freedom issues go to the heart of 
the kind of campus we want the University of Illinois to be, and many 
recent campus controversies have revolved around conflicting 
understandings of these principles.

I encourage you to take advantage of these events. Where appropriate, you 
might want to include these events, or discussion about them, in your 
courses.

Sincerely,

Nicholas C. Burbules
Chair, Senate Executive Committee


This mailing approved by:
The Office of the Chancellor

-- 
This message sent via MASSMAIL.  < http://www.cites.illinois.edu/services/massmail/ >