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FIRE’s Will Creeley to Speak at University of Maryland Tomorrow

Tomorrow, FIRE Director of Legal and Public Advocacy Will Creeley travels to the University of Maryland (UMD) at College Park to speak about student rights on campus.

The speech will begin at 3:30 p.m. in LeFrak Hall, room 2205. The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the UMD Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the UMD chapters of Students For Liberty, the College Democrats, the College Republicans, and Young Americans for Liberty.

Creeley will examine the state of the law on freedom of speech on today's college campuses, discussing the decades of legal precedent upholding First Amendment protections on college campuses, common restrictions on student and faculty speech, and shocking instances of censorship on campus. Creeley will also answer questions about how students can best protect their rights and the limited exceptions to freedom of expression.

UMD is currently a "yellow light" school, according to FIRE's Spotlight rating system. This means that UMD has some policies on its books that could restrict a significant amount of protected expression. Creeley will discuss the changes that are necessary to make UMD a "green light" school and how those changes would encourage an environment conducive to free inquiry.

In the course of his talk, Creeley will also address a 2009 FIRE case at UMD, when—under intense pressure from the Maryland State legislature—the university cancelled a student-run campus event that would have included a presentation by Planned Parenthood and a screening of "XXX"-rated film Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge.

If you're in the College Park area, be sure to catch this important talk on student rights.

University of Maryland Speech

When: Tuesday, April 16, 3:30 p.m.

Where: LeFrak Hall, room 2205, on UMD's campus

What else?: The talk is sponsored by the UMD Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice and the UMD chapters of Students For Liberty, the College Democrats, the College Republicans, and Young Americans for Liberty.

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