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Geoffrey Stone on free expression and academic freedom at the FIRE Faculty Conference

Geoffrey Stone, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, delivered the keynote address at the FIRE Faculty Conference in October. In his keynote, Stone discusses the history of free speech and academic freedom in the United States and the reasons why these principles are vital to higher education. He also answers questions from faculty attendees on the status of free speech on campuses today. Watch the full keynote talk here:

Stone is an expert on constitutional law and the First Amendment. He is also the author of many books on this topic, including “Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime,” and “War and Liberty: An American Dilemma.” He has most recently authored “Sex and the Constitution: Sex, Religion and Law from America’s Origins to the Twenty-First Century,” which he discussed with FIRE on our So to Speak podcast last April.

Notably, Stone chaired the Committee on Free Expression at the University of Chicago, which was convened in 2014 with the charge of drafting a statement “articulating the University’s overarching commitment to free, robust, and uninhibited debate and deliberation among all members of the University’s community.” The report released by the committee in 2015 is known as the “Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression” at the University of Chicago (commonly known as the “Chicago Statement”), and it has been endorsed by 52 institutions and faculty bodies around the country as a way to protect and defend free expression and academic freedom on campus.

FIRE thanks professor Stone and everyone who took part in this year’s faculty conference. If you’re a faculty member or graduate student interested in defending civil liberties on America’s campuses, please consider joining the FIRE Faculty Network!

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