Free Speech and Academic Freedom at the University of Nebraska
AFCON 2018 Annual Membership Meeting
Saturday, October 13, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Nebraska Union, UNL city campus (right by the proposed free speech zone)
open to all, no charge
Keynote Address UNO Professor Emeritus Sam Walker Walker will also receive AFCON’s annual academic freedom award for his protest against the new Regents free expression policy and his lifelong work defending and promoting intellectual freedom in academic and other contexts.
Panel Discussion Panelists will be Nebraska state senator Steve Halloran, who introduced a bill in the 2018 Unicam to promote free expression in public higher education; ACLU Nebraska Legal Director Amy Miller, who has written to UNL, UNO, and UNK about their free speech policies; and UNL journalism professor John Bender, who has served as president of the UNL Faculty Senate, the UNL AAUP, and AFCON. AFCON President Dave Moshman will serve as moderator.
Panelists will discuss current intellectual freedom issues at the University of Nebraska, including restrictive speech zones, unconstitutional speech codes, the new Regents policy warning teachers against introducing controversial matters, and the recent censure of UNL by the AAUP for penalizing speech without due process. The focus will be on what needs to be done, and what supporters of intellectual freedom should do.
There will be a very brief annual business meeting, open to all, after the program.