The Volokh Conspiracy

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Crime

Emory Academic Freedom/Free Speech on Campus conference this week (3/21-3/23): CLE credit available

All are welcome to this week's conference at the Emory Conference Center in Atlanta, Ga., with a selection of nationwide experts on the First Amendment, free speech, academic freedom, and university policies, from both the academic side and the student-affairs professional side.

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Hi all, this should be my last announcement for a conference on Academic Freedom and Free Speech on Campus, to be held from March 21 to March 23, 2019, at the Emory Conference Center (Atlanta, Ga.)—brought to you by the office of Emory's provost, Dwight McBride, Emory Campus Life, and the Emory University Senate's Committee for Open Expression (which I'm the chair of).

If you're a lawyer, you should be aware that we're offering three credits of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit if you attend the conference on Friday, March 22. Ordinary registration fees are $100 (but free for Emory staff and faculty, and for students anywhere); it's an extra $15 if you want the CLE credit.

You can register at this link, but please come even if you haven't registered and stay for as long as you can.

Here's what the conference is about:

Academic Freedom and Free Speech on Campus

Join Emory University for its conference Academic Freedom and Free Speech on Campus March 21-23, 2019 to discuss what academic freedom and free speech mean in the life of higher education institutions today.

The conference is an opportunity to showcase how public and private institutions of higher education continue to be on the forefront of debate, deliberation, and knowledge creation. Emory University is committed to this through its strategic framework, which states that "we practice the values of intellectual rigor, integrity, risk taking, and collaboration. Our faculty and students pursue open inquiry across disciplines—guided by evidence, committed to critical inquiry, fueled by the creative spirit, and dedicated not only to discovery in its own right but to solving problems and serving society." This conference was created to demonstrate this commitment.

The goal of the conference is to generate conversations on ideas, laws, policies, and practices related to academic freedom and free speech on college campuses. It will provide opportunities for faculty, scholars, student affairs professionals and students to interrogate ideas ranging from academic freedom and free speech to safe spaces, and to discuss campus protests and dissent in order to develop practices and policies that promote free speech.

Please join the conversation by attending the conference.

Who's participating? A mix of academics, student-affairs professionals, and others. Here is a (not necessarily complete) list, in no particular order:

In addition, we have several participants from Emory, including:

  • Deborah Lipstadt, professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies,
  • Pamela Scully, vice provost for undergraduate education,
  • Michael Shutt, senior director of Campus Life,
  • Michele Hempfling, associate dean of Campus Life, Oxford College of Emory University,
  • Ed Lee, senior director for debate, deliberation, and dialogue,
  • Christa Acampora, deputy provost for academic affairs,
  • Steven Sencer, Emory's general counsel,
  • Lisa Garvin, acting dean of the chapel and spiritual life,
  • Courtnay Oddman, assistant director of residence life,
  • Nancy Seideman, vice president of academic communications,
  • Bert Buchtinec, captain of Emory Police Department,
  • Fred Smith Jr., law professor,
  • Julie Seaman, law professor,
  • Frank Lechner, sociology professor,
  • Karen Andes, professor of global health,
  • Dabney Evans, professor of global health,
  • Henry Bayerle, classics professor,
  • Zach Raetzmann, student,
  • and me.

Please come represent the readership of the Volokh Conspiracy, and say hi to me when you're there!