LEST 401

FREE SPEECH: CASES AND CONFLICTS

SPRING 2006

Joan DelFattore Class meetings: Mon. 6-9, 109 Memorial

062 Memorial Hall Office hours: 10-11:30 Mon., Tues., Fri.

831-2987 (office); 737-7124 (home and fax) jdel@udel.edu; www.english.udel.edu/jdel

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND GOALS

Students in this course will:

* Improve their ability to analyze and interpret the legal terminology and constitutional principles underlying Supreme Court decisions regarding free speech

* Acquire information about, and consider the importance of, the centuries-long evolution of ideas about free speech from which the principles currently in place in the U.S. have arisen

* Apply the relevant constitutional principles to an analysis of major free-speech topics: sexual themes in literature, art, and entertainment; flag-burning, cross-burning, and other blends of speech and conduct; and the treatment of controversial speech in American education

* Explore the concept of intellectual freedom from the perspectives of different disciplines, including history, philosophy, literature, and film.

* Apply the constitutional principles and interpretive and analytical skills learned in this course to an independent analysis of a free-speech dispute.

TEXTS

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Bezanson, Randall P. Speech Stories: How Free Can Speech Be?

Bolt, Robert. A Man for All Seasons.

Brecht, Berthold. Galileo.

DelFattore, Joan. What Johnny Shouldn’t Read: Textbook Censorship in America.

Ellison, Harlan. Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman.

Lowry, Lois. The Giver.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible.

Orwell, George. 1984.

Smolla, Rodney. Free Speech in an Open Society.

Other materials in the public domain, including court decisions and out-of-copyright essays and poetry, will be accessed online and printed out. Even if there is a charge for the printing, it will be much less than the cost of another book or books.

NOTE: The university bookstore and the bookstores on Main Street return unsold books right after the end of drop/add. If you wait until a week before a reading is due to buy the book, you might find that you can’t get it.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Short Version: If I’m here, you’re here.

Long Version: The schedule for this class involves a tradeoff. On the one hand, students receive

three credits for a class that meets only once a week. On the other hand, each class meeting is three hours long, which means that missing even one of them is comparable to missing an entire week of classes in a regular semester. Absences will therefore be excused only in cases of serious illness or family emergencies. Car trouble, arguments with significant others, hangovers, social events, ennui, the need to catch up on work or sleep, appearances on the Jerry Springer Show, or abduction by creatures from another planet are not justifications for excused absences. (Students may argue that the last two are redundant.) Moaning about the three-hour periods is optional but immature, since they are part of an arrangement whose benefits you are also enjoying. The same is true of the evening time slot, which makes for a long day but also allows you to take this class without creating scheduling conflicts with other required courses. Arriving late and leaving early are not options except under unusual circumstances.

To avoid a lot of grief, please do not remain in this course if your work schedule, ride home, or social life will not allow you to meet these standards. Students will lose three points for each unexcused absence, and only half credit will be given for handing in a written assignment without having been present to participate in the oral presentation of that material to the class. Similarly, students who take a make-up quiz following an unexcused absence may earn a maximum of half the assigned points for that quiz.

GRADING

Class participation: 20 points

Two oral/written reports @ 10 points each: 20 points

Five unannounced quizzes @ 6 points each: 30 points

Final paper: 30 points

Final grade: A = 95-100, A- = 90-94.5, B+ = 87-89.5, B = 83-86.5, B- = 80-82.5, C+ = 77-79.5, C = 73-76.5, C- = 70-72.5, D+ = 67-69.5, D = 63-66.5, D- = 60-62.5, F = 0-59.5

TECHNOLOGY

Students must have an active UD e-mail account and check it regularly. Announcements will be sent to the university’s class list, which uses your UD account number. Please do not ask to have material sent to another account. You will also be expected to access information and conduct independent research online. Students who do not have your own computers, printers, and Internet access are welcome to use any of the equipment on campus. Information about activating e-mail accounts and gaining access to the UD library databases from off-campus is available at www.udel.edu/help. Questions should be addressed to the computer hotline operators at 302-831-6000.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

The university’s academic honesty policy, which appears at http://www.udel.edu/stuguide/04-05/code.html#honesty , will be enforced in this course.

ADA STATEMENT

Students with disabilities should contact the University of Delaware’s Office of the ADA for information regarding possible accommodations. See the ADA Policy at http://www.udel.edu/ADA/Stu/stu.html for more information. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the ADA office if you wish to receive support.

SCHEDULE

Note: Please bring the readings for the day to each class meeting.

Feb. 6: Introduction

Discussion: Basic free-speech principles and legal disputes

Mini-lecture: the structure of the federal court system and the nature of a Supreme

Court oral argument

Discussion: Balancing the rights of various conflicting speakers, action as speech, the

right not to speak, and juxtaposing the free-speech and free-association rights of

the First Amendment with the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal

protection under the law

Mini-lecture: Evolution of thought on intellectual freedom from the Middle Ages to the

present

Assignment for next class:

Read Berthold Brecht, Galileo

Print out and read the biographical sketch of Galileo Galilei at

http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/museo/b/egalilg.html; within that site, also click on

“sentence condemning”

Print out and read the text of the indictment against Galileo at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1630galileo.html

Print out and read the letter of Galileo to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany at
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/galileo-tuscany.html

Feb. 13: Historical Perspectives

Discussion of the historical background material on Galileo, with particular reference to

the attitudes conveyed about the government’s right to censor speech and to use

secular power to uphold religious teachings

Discussion of Galileo

Mini-lecture on Berthold Brecht’s brush with the House Unamerican Activities

Committee and on the two versions of the play

Introduction to The Crucible

Assignment for next class:

Read Arthur Miller, The Crucible

Do the research assignment for which you signed up in two to five pages, double-

spaced. You are not required to print out material from the websites, but if you see something that’s especially interesting and would like to bring it in to enliven next week’s discussion, please do.

1. Go to Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, The Salem Witch Trials http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html. This site contains original court transcripts and other material from the Salem trials, which Miller used as a primary source for The Crucible. The material appears in three volumes organized alphabetically by the name of the accused person.
Choose any two real-life accused persons who appear as characters in the play and read whatever material appears under each person’s name. In some instances, there may be very short documents that don’t seem to make much sense; feel free to skip those. Some of the materials are fragmentary, and the type of material presented varies with the different characters. Insofar as you can,
answer the following questions:
* Specifically what was the accused person supposed to

have done – e.g., killed someone’s cow, bewitched their

crops, pinched them, or what?
* What evidence was offered in support of those

       allegations?
          * What defense or reply (if any) did the accused offer?
          * As far as you can tell from your answers to the first three

questions, what was the nature of truth as defined by the

witchcraft court? To put it another way, what was the

standard of evidence needed for conviction?

* What was your personal reaction to this material? What

were you saying to yourself as you read it?
This next part is not required, but if you’re interested, the official Salem town website, http://www.salemweb.com/guide/witches.htm,
includes pictures of many of the places mentioned in The Crucible and the witch trials. More scholarly information may be found at
http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ogram.org%2F17thc%2Fmather_gb.shtml.

2. Spend at least an hour using a web browser (Google, Yahoo!,

Dogpile, etc.) to research Senator Joseph McCarthy or the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Note that McCarthy was in the Senate, not in the House; his anti-communist activities complemented the work of HUAC, but they are two separate things. Make notes on the information you find and then summarize what you learned and identify the sources. Based on your research, what is your view of the McCarthy/HUAC investigations? To what extent does the material you found deserve the title of witch hunt? Why? What similarities and differences do you see between the anti-communist investigations and the witch hunt as described by Miller? Obviously, he thought that the two were closely connected; do you agree?

3. Read Introduction to the trial of Anne Hutchinson, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kids/civilrights/features_hutchison.html and Trial of Anne Hutchinson, http://personal.pitnet.net/primarysources/hutchinson.html. Summarize the material and explain how it relates to The Crucible.

Feb. 20: Historical Perspectives

Small-group work to prepare panel presentations on Hutchinson, the Salem witch trials,

McCarthy, and HUAC

Panel presentations

Discussion of The Crucible

Videotape: Report on Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (Edward R. Murrow)

Mini-lecture on the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses

* Marsh v. Chambers (May Congress and state legislatures appoint and pay chaplains

to pray before legislative sessions?)

* Capitol Square v. Pinette (May city officials deny the Ku Klux Klan the opportunity

to erect a cross in a public square generally open to other displays?)

* Reynolds v. United States (May the government compel Mormon

men to have only one wife, despite their religious belief in polygamy?)

* Employment Division v. Smith (May the government prohibit the ritual use of

peyote by Native American religious groups?)

* Rosenberger v. Rector (May a public university exclude student religious

publications from eligibility for funding that is available to other student

publications?)

Assignment for next class:

1. Google the title of the Supreme Court decision you signed up for and read the

decision. Don’t worry about legal technicalities such as whether a plaintiff has

standing to sue or whether documents were filed on time. Just concentrate on the

main arguments addressing the government’s involvement with free expression as it

relates to religion.

2. Answer the following questions in three or four pages:

* Who sued whom, and why?

* Who won?

* What were the two or three most important issues that led to the decision?

* What did the decision say about each of those issues?

* Do you agree with the Court’s decision? Why or why not?

Feb. 27: Religious Speech

Small-group work to prepare panel presentations on the four cases

Panel presentations

Audiotape: Excerpts from the Supreme Court oral argument in Employment Division

v. Smith

Discussion of the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses, the relationship of religion

and government as it affects free expression, and the distinction between speech

and conduct

Assignment for next class:

Read What Johnny Shouldn’t Read: Textbook Censorship in America

In “Textbook Controversies Based on Content, Values, and Viewpoint,”

http://www.english.udel.edu/jdel/textbooks.html, read the sections on the Rainbow

Curriculum (Heather Has Two Mommies, Daddy’s Roommate) and Nappy Hair

March 6: Censorship of Educational Materials

Discussion of What Johnny Shouldn’t Read, with particular attention to the balance

between the principles of majority rule and individual rights

In-class reading and discussion of Heather Has Two Mommies, Daddy’s

Roommate, and Nappy Hair

Videotape, Censorship in Our Schools

Assignment for next class:

Read “Hate Speech and Campus Speech Codes” at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/pubcollege/topic.aspx?topic=campus_speech_codes

In Randy Bezanson, Speech Stories, read “The Burning Cross” (R.A.V. v. St. Paul)

In Rodney Smolla, Free Speech in an Open Society, read “Hate Speech: Tolerating

Intolerance”

March 13: Hate Speech

Discussion of Smolla chapter

Discussion of R.A.V. v. St. Paul

Mini-lecture on Virginia v. Black

Discussion of campus speech codes

Videotape: That Delicate Balance (Part 2): The First Amendment and Hate Speech

Assignment for next class:

In Randy Bezanson, Speech Stories, read “The Artist” (Jenkins v. Georgia)

In Rodney Smolla, Free Speech in an Open Society, read “Public Funding of the Arts,

Education, and Other Forms of Public Speech”

March 20: Censorship of the Arts

Discussion of Smolla chapter

Discussion of Bezanson chapter

Videotape: Damned in the U.S.A.

Mini-lecture on the nature and characteristics of literary treatments of intellectual

freedom issues

Introduction to The Giver

Assignment for next class:

Read Lois Lowry, The Giver

March 27: Spring break

April 3: Literary Treatment of Cultural Censorship

Discussion of The Giver

Assignment for next class:

In Rodney Smolla, Free Speech in an Open Society, read “Personal Reputation and

Privacy”

Read the introductory material to Hustler v. Falwell at

http://www.hfac.uh.edu/comm/media_libel/cases-conflicts/print/hustler.html;

also click on “Jerry Falwell Talks About His First Time” for a view of the

parody that sparked the lawsuit

Read the Supreme Court decision in Hustler v. Falwell

April 10: Balancing the Rights of the Speaker and the Subject

Discussion of Smolla chapter

Discussion of Hustler v. Falwell

Audiotape: Excerpts from the Supreme Court oral argument in Hustler v. Falwell

Videotape: Excerpt from The People vs. Larry Flynt

Assignment for next class:

Print out and read Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” at

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/civ.dis.html

Read Harlan Ellison, Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman

Print out and read e.e. cummings, “i sing of Olaf glad and big” at

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/11930

April 17: Literary Treatment of Resistance to Authority

Discussion of “Civil Disobedience” and “i sing of Olaf” with particular reference to

anti-war protests

Discussion of Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman

Assignment for next class:

In Randy Bezanson, Speech Stories, read “The Jacket” (Cohen v. California) and “The

Burning Flag” (Texas v. Johnson)

In Rodney Smolla, Free Speech in an Open Society, read “Patriotism, Community, and

Dissent”

April 24: Political Dissent

Discussion of the Smolla chapter

Discussion of “The Jacket”

Audiotape: Excerpts from the Supreme Court oral argument in Cohen v. California

Discussion of “The Burning Flag”

Audiotape: Excerpts from the Supreme Court oral argument in Texas v. Johnson

Mini-lecture on Tinker v. Des Moines

DVD: Vietnam War protest songs by Country Joe McDonald and Jimi Hendrix at

Woodstock

Assignment for next class:

Read George Orwell, 1984

May 1: Literary Treatment of Governmental Censorship

Discussion of 1984

Videotape: Watch What You Say

Assignment for May 15:

Write final paper

May 8: Film Treatment of Governmental Censorship

Film: A Clockwork Orange

Discussion of A Clockwork Orange, with particular reference to the balance between

individual free will and the common good

May 15: Peer editing of final papers

Final papers handed in

Tha’ Tha’ Tha’ Tha’ –--

That’s All, Folks!