This paper presents a literature review examining research that addresses the issue of freedom of expression as it relates to instructional decision-making for teachers in K-12 grades. The paper proposes to connect two sub-fields in speech communication: instructional communication and freedom of expression studies. In surveying the research,…

This paper discusses current court rulings on academic freedom at the college and university level. The paper focuses on three cases: "Hall v. Kutztown," in which the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that Kutztown University violated the free speech rights of a philosophy professor when it rejected him…

This article provides an overview of court cases that affect the curricular speech of teachers. Despite the large number of cases, the law governing speech in the schools is anything but settled. Courts disagree as to the analytical framework that should be applied to such claims, although most courts use the standard articulated by the Supreme…

In response to the resurgence of racial incidents and increased "gay-bashing" on higher education campuses in recent years, campus authorities have instituted harassment codes thereby giving rise to a conflicts with free speech. Similar conflicts and challenges to free speech have arisen recently in a municipal context such as a St. Paul…

It is indeed a problem, perhaps even a crisis, that many Americans are ignorant of "The Tempest," the Civil War, the location of the Persian Gulf, the Constitution, or the chief justice of the Supreme Court. However, if conservative humanists continue to ostracize, scorn, and ignore both media studies and the media themselves, the result will not…

Intended to summarize the ideals underlying the struggle for freedom of the press and to reinforce the basic Constitutional principles upon which the United States functions, this collection of quotations reflects the beliefs of prominent people throughout history who have championed press freedom, as well as the ideas of some who have opposed it.…

The effects of McCarthyism on U.S. colleges are considered, with a focus on the response of administrators and faculty members to the anti-Communist furor of the 1940s and 1950s. Perspectives on McCarthyism as a political process are offered, along with an explanation of how it gained so much power. McCarthyism is seen as having two stages: the…

Acting on a general perception that attempts to remove, restrict, or alter materials found in public and public school libraries have increased during the past decade, the Senate Committee on Appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and related agencies directed the National Commission on Libraries and…

Intended to provide rationales for the use of a group of controversial books in American public schools, this manual explains the educational values of 33 of the most frequently challenged books. Detailed rationales include such information as historical perspective, literary elements, pertinence, and thematic content. Some of the titles include…

The Office of Censorship's struggle to keep journalists from revealing the development of the first atomic bomb, the sites where the development was taking place, and the fact that the bomb might be available for use in the war, was desperate and in many ways heroic. Soon after it was created on December 19, 1941, the office issued a voluntary…

While it is informative to trace the vicissitudes to which the First Amendment has been subjected since 1791, it is obvious that as far as schools are concerned, the courts have interpreted freedom of speech and the press in a limited way. For example, the courts have ruled that boards of education may remove books from school libraries on the…

The third annual study of censorship incidents in public schools revealed that during the 1984-85 school year, censors took aim at an array of courses, textbooks, teaching methods and materials, as well as a wide assortment of books, plays, and films. More than 42% of the challenges that were directed at instructional materials resulted in removal…

In this article author explored our freedoms and with hypothetical cases illustrated how the freedoms can be granted or denied based on an interpretation of the Bill of Rights. (Author/RK)

The nine articles in this collection deal with theoretical and practical freedom of speech issues. Topics discussed include the following: (1) freedom of expression in Thailand and India; (2) metaphors and analogues in several landmark free speech cases; (3) Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's views of the First Amendment; (4) the San…

Although violent demonstrations have occurred at only a few universities, moves toward direct confrontati"n with authority seen as repressive or hypocritical could take place at any college in the country. Part of the cause is the students' desire for national notoriety which TV affords. The growth of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)…