Free Speech in the College Community (Hardcover)

by Robert M. O'Neil (Author) "It sounds from your phone call over the weekend as though you're committed to having a speech code on your campus..." (more)
Key Phrases: professorial speech, speaker bans, private campus, New York, City College, Pioneer Fund (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In Real Life, few people's right to free speech is protected by tenure; on the other hand, what is "fair use" IRL is plagiarism on campus. O'Neil argues that academies are different from the rest of the world, and he should know. The director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression and the former president of the universities of Virginia and Wisconsin, O'Neil offers a patient, almost patronizing explanation of why universities cannot legally and should not morally curb speech. In each chapter he dramatizes issues through the use of letters and memoranda based on actual events. Each fictionalized exemplar is followed by a discussion held according to good Socratic method. Among the most intriguing are his discussions of e-mail, Internet access and what sort of power the university has over its electronic networks, as well as speech codes and the difficulties of defining just what real harassment is. O'Neil suggests that "resorting to such measures as curbing views or ideas implies that we lack (or failed to use) subtler means of persuasion." But the content is marred by O'Neil's fictional lawyers and administrators, a group as stodgy and dignified as the college bigwigs Groucho lampoons in Horsefeathers. And his reviews of celebrated cases (e.g., Leonard Jeffries's anti-Semitic comments while chairman of African Studies at CCNY) are fodder for abstractions rather than interesting reportage. O'Neil seems to see his duty as reminding his brother presidents that, as infuriating as students and professors are, they have to be treated in accordance with the Bill of Rights.

Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"O'Neil's book deals with campus speech codes, speech and technology, off-campus speech, groups (gays, Greeks), free press, artistic expression, academic freedom, religious speech, and freedom of speech at private institutions. His postscript contains seven carefully crafted premises that should guide all discussions of freedom of speech issues on campus. The book ends with a seven-page annotated bibliography that cites some of the major literature, including William van Alstyne's brilliant work and William A. Kaplin and Barbara A. Lee's comprehensive and essential The Law of Higher Education (3rd ed., 1995). Lucidly written, the book can be read and understood by many audiences from student organizations to board members. O'Neil describes in adequate detail cases on larger campuses, most less than five years old, and quotes central passages from judicial decisions. The book displays the wisdom a former research university president (Virginia and Wisconsin) should have. O'Neil, now director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, writes from the perspective of someone who has Been there, struggled with that. Essential for all college and university libraries." -- G. L. Findlen, Western Wisconsin Technical College, Choice, July 1997

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253332672
• ISBN-13: 978-0253332677
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,612,417 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Leading Text in contemporary First Amendment law, July 28, 2000

By A Customer

Excellent. Robert O'Neil is the nation's foremost expert on the First Amendment. This is a brilliant look at free speech and the role of higher education. The role of free speech in higher education is in continual jeopardy and under constant scrutiny, a text like this could revolutionize the way you view free speech, the college community, and possibly the world. Of special note: O'Neil's discussion of the role of technology is particularly resonant.