Hugo Black

From book bans to restrictions on teaching, in recent years, there have been clear infringements on First Amendment rights in the U.S. and the problem may be more widespread than people realize. There was, for example, a 33 percent increase in book bans in the 2022-23 school year from the 2021-22 school year, largely targeting books about race, racism, and gender issues or featuring on LGBTQ+ characters and characters of color. Meanwhile, more than 300 gag order bills have been introduced across 46 state legislatures restricting the discussion of gender and racial identities, censorship of teaching materials, and, in some…

David Rabban ’71, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, delivered a wide-ranging exploration of academic freedom and freedom of speech at the annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The lecture was presented by The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life and took place March 30 in the Daniel Family Commons. “One of the things I loved about Wesleyan when I was here was the commitment of the faculty and administration to free speech and academic freedom,” Rabban said. His talk cited a wide array of case law to show…

During the annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression, keynote speaker Keith Whittington discussed how free speech has been a politicized issue since early America, and he expanded on early conceptions of free speech as it developed. “Rather than simply seeing how many people will follow you to the battlefield to beat up or kill the other side, wouldn't it just be easier if we just counted up how many people were willing to go to the battlefield, resolve those issues that way and skip the beating up part?” Whittington asked the audience. The lecture, which has been…

On April 4, the campus community gathered in Memorial Chapel for the 28th Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. This year's speaker was Jelani Cobb, the Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism at Columbia University, winner of the 2015 Sidney Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism, and a staff writer for The New Yorker. Cobb spoke on “The Half-Life of Freedom: Race and Justice in America Today." Born and raised in Queens, New York, Cobb is a graduate of Howard University and Rutgers University, where he received his doctorate in American history. Cobb frequently writes about…

(more…)

(more…)

Note: This event has been rescheduled for April 20. Linda Greenhouse, the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at the Yale Law School, will present a talk titled “Writing the Truth in the Age of Trump” during the 26th annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The talk begins at 8 p.m., April 20 in Memorial Chapel. Linda Greenhouse covered the Supreme Court for The New York Times between 1978 and 2008 and writes a biweekly op-ed column on law as a contributing columnist. She received several major journalism awards during her 40-year career at…

(more…)

On Feb. 18, Stanley Fish will deliver the 25th annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The title of his talk is, "Micro-aggressions, Trigger Warnings, Cultural 'Appropriations' and History: What's Happening on Campus?" The talk begins at 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. Fish is the Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and professor of law at Florida International University; Floersheimer Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School; Emeritus Professor of English and Law at Duke University; and Dean Emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Distinguished Professor of English, Criminal Justice and Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He…

(more…)

(more…)

Aharon Barak, former president of the Israeli Supreme Court Interdisciplinary Center, in Herzliya, Israel will deliver the 23rd annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression at 8 p.m. Oct. 8 in Memorial Chapel. His talk is titled, “Human Dignity and Free Speech." Barak served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Israel from 1978 to 1995 and as president of the Court from 1995 to 2006. Earlier, he was Attorney General of the State of Israel and Dean of the Law Faculty at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1978, Barak traveled to the United States as…

Hugo Black Lecturers Establish What’s at Stake When Free Expression on Campus is Imperiled

Annual Hugo Black Lecture Explores Academic Freedom

Princeton’s Whittington Delivers Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture

Race and Justice in America Today Topic of Hugo Black Lecture

Finn Addresses “Alt-Constitution” at the 27th Annual Hugo Black Lecture

Greenhouse Delivers the Hugo L. Black Lecture on ‘Writing the Truth in the Age of Trump’

“Writing the Truth in the Age of Trump” Topic of Hugo Black Lecture April 20

Stanley Fish Delivers Lecture on Freedom of Expression, Meets with Students

Stanley Fish to Deliver Hugo Black Lecture Feb. 18

Post Delivers 24th Annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression

Aharon Barak Delivers Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression

Justice Aharon Barak to Lead Annual Hugo Black Lecture on Oct. 8