Free Speech on Campus
Professors R. Brown and L. Epstein
LAW 620
Spring 2026
Outline and Readings
Introduction to the Course (January 14)
Note: There are no assignments for January 14. But you might want to start the reading for January 21.
Tools for Analyzing Free Expression Controversies: Tool #1. Justifications for Free Expression (January 21)
•Discovering Truth (The “Marketplace of Ideas”)
•Facilitating Participation by Citizens in Political Decision Making
•Assuring Individual Self-Fulfillment/Autonomy
•Creating a More Adaptable and Stable Community (The “Safety-Valve”)
•Promoting Tolerance
Please read Free Speech: A Campus Toolkit, pp. 1-25. Please be prepared to:
•Explain and defend each justification
•Offer challenges to each
•Consider the value of each for campus speech
Institutional Neutrality (January 28, February 4)
Rather than move directly to Tool #2 (Doctrine), we’ll devote January 28 to group presentations focused on institutional neutrality. The exercise is designed to prepare you for our speaker, Brian Soucek, Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Fellow UC Davis School of Law.
January 28. Information on the group presentations is here.
February 4. Prof. Soucek presentation on his new book, The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education. You do NOT need to read the book.
Tools for Analyzing Free Expression Controversies: Tool #2. Free Expression in the Supreme Court (Doctrine) (February 11, February 18, February 25, March 4 [if needed]))
•Overview of Free Expression Doctrine
•What is Speech?
•Is There State Action?
•Does the Speech Fall into an Unprotected Category?
•Who is Speaking?
•Is the Regulation a Prior Restraint on Expression?
•Is the Regulation Vague or Overbroad?
•Is the Regulation Content-Neutral or Content-Based? (If Content-Based is it Viewpoint-Based?)
•Case Study: Hate Speech
Over the 3-4 sessions on doctrine, we’ll cover Chapter 2 in Free Speech: A Campus Toolkit. Please be prepared to:
•Summarize and discuss the main concepts and doctrine covered in the chapter
•Analyze the doctrine
•Consider gaps in the doctrine
Tools for Analyzing Free Expression Controversies: Tool #3. Social Science Perspectives on Free Expression AND Tool #4. Historical Perspectives on Free Expression in Universities (March 4)
•What People Say about Free Speech
•What People (and Judges) Don’t Say about Free Speech
•History of Free Speech in Universities
•Academic Freedom
You can skim Chapters 3-5 in Free Speech: A Campus Toolkit. But please read the AAUP’s 1940 statement on academic freedom (with commentary). It’s available here. In class, we’ll:
•Discuss patterns in survey data on support for free speech
•Analyze the AAUP’s statement on academic freedom
Case Controversies
•White Supremacist Speakers (March 11)
•T-Shirt Taboos (March 25)
•Interim President Beong-Soo Kim, USC, will meet with the class (April 1). Please prepare questions for the President.
•Provocateurs at Commencement (April 8)
•Student Safety or Student Silencing? (April 15)
Review and Wrap Up
(April 22)