History and Theory of Freedom of Expression (SPC 4930-002) -- Spring 2000 -- Syllabus

Communication 4930 (SPC 4930-002)
History and Theory of Freedom of Expression
Spring 2000

Prof. Gil Rodman
Office Hours: Tu, Th 2-3p and by appointment
CIS 3040 // gbrodman@mindspring.com // 813-974-3025

T.A. Jessica Schmitzer
Office Hours: M, W 8-10a or by appointment
CIS 3065 // schmitze@brill.acomp.usf.edu // 813-974-2145

course website:
http://scholar.acomp.usf.edu:90/courses/SPC4930-002/index.html

course description and objectives
This is a course about the theory and practice of free speech as it has evolved in the West over the past several centuries. This is also a course that's more about questions than answers, more about wrestling with difficult issues than offering easy solutions. Some of the general questions we'll examine this semester include:

Is free speech a right or a privilege?
Who is allowed to speak and what are they allowed to say?
What responsibilities (if any) go along with the right/privilege of free speech?
Is freedom of expression a necessary feature of a democracy?
What limits (if any) do we need to place on free speech?
What types of restriction on expression count as censorship?
Can we distinguish speech from action? Should we? And, if so, how?
And who is empowered to make these decisions anyway?

Barring a small miracle or three, we will not solve any of the social, cultural, and political problems that lie at the heart of this class. This course is not designed, however, to provide you with the "right" answers, as much as it is intended to make you think critically about the issues involved. Regardless of who you are or what you may believe at the start of the semester, this course will challenge (and perhaps even change) your current way of looking at democracy and free speech as they exist in the US today.

WARNING!!!
The subjects that we'll be discussing this semester are, without exception, controversial ones. As a result, many of our class sessions will generate heated arguments, and it's possible that you'll walk away from one or more of our meetings feeling angry, frustrated, and/or offended. Nevertheless, I expect all of our conversations to be characterized by mutual respect. Impassioned arguments and strongly expressed opinions are perfectly acceptable in this class; verbal bullying and personal attacks, on the other hand, will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

required course materials

Books.
- John Milton, Areopagitica and Of Education
- John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Utilitarianism
- The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States
Available at Inkwood Books, 216 S. Armenia, Tampa (253-2638, inkwoodbks@aol.com).
Non-book readings. Available either from me, online, or at the reserve desk of the USF Library (as noted on the reading schedule).
Reliable, regular access to the World Wide Web. Because virtually all of the written work for this class will be submitted online, you will not be able to complete the course successfully without being able to access the Web on a consistent basis. If you don't already have an Internet account and/or access to the Net from your home or workplace, you will need to make use of the e-mail account and open-use computer labs that Academic Computing (LIB 608) provides to registered students free of charge.

grading schedule
Your final grade will be determined by the grading contract that you will complete and return to me by 25 January. The overall range of options is as follows:

	***Attendance	10%
	***In-class participation	10%
	***CourseInfo Discussion Board participation	10%
	Thought paper	10%
	1-5 response papers	10% each
	1-5 case studies	10% each

Starred items are required portions of your grade. Further details on the various written assignments can be found below and on the Assignments page of the course website.

Once approved, your contract is binding: e.g., you don't get to reduce the number of case studies you contracted for and make up for it by writing extra response papers. So choose carefully. Also note that contracts that are turned in late or that don't add up to exactly 100% will be "fixed" by me -- which may set you up for work you would rather not do. So double-check your math and turn your contract in on time.

attendance/in-class participation/quizzes
Because issues will be raised in class that will not necessarily be obvious from the readings alone, it's important that you show up every time we meet and that you do so on time. Attendance will be taken at the start of every class period, and absences, late arrivals, and early departures will all count against you. If you accumulate more than 1.5 weeks in unexcused absences, I reserve the right to lower your semester grade by more than 10%.

Our class sessions will be structured almost exclusively around group discussions. It will thus be more enjoyable for all of us (and you'll do better) if you (1) attend class regularly, (2) do the required reading and (3) be prepared to discuss what we've read.

To help insure that our in-class discussions are productive ones, there will be quizzes on the assigned reading that will work as follows:

Each quiz will consist of fact-based, short-answer questions on the assigned reading for the day the quiz is given. If you've done the reading closely enough to discuss it in class, you should have no problems passing the corresponding quiz.
There will be 5-15 quizzes over the course of the semester. Neither the exact number of quizzes nor the quiz dates will be announced in advance.
On quiz days, quizzes will take place during the first 15 minutes of the class period. Late arrivals will not be given extra time to complete their quizzes and no make-up quizzes will be given. Missing class (or showing up more than 15 minutes late) on a quiz day earns you a failing grade for that quiz.
Quizzes will be graded on a pass/fail basis. You are allowed to fail and/or miss up to 2 quizzes without hurting your grade.
Failing 3 or more quizzes lowers the "ceiling" for your semester grade by 5% for each failed quiz: e.g., if you fail 3 quizzes, the highest grade you can get for the course is an 85; if you fail 5 quizzes, your highest possible grade is a 75; etc.

written assignments
General rules

Your written work must be submitted online in the appropriate forums on the CourseInfo Discussion Board. The lengths listed below are estimates of how much you'll need to write to complete the assignments well. I will not automatically penalize shorter papers, but it's unlikely that you will be able to do "A" work if your papers are shorter than the suggested length.
Except for work due during finals week, all your work must be posted to the course website by the start of class on the appropriate due dates. Late work will generally not be accepted except in cases of genuine emergency. In the event that I do accept late work, I reserve the right to reduce its grade in direct proportion to its lateness. The minimum penalty in all such cases will be one full letter grade.
As a safety precaution, you should always keep at least a hard copy -- and preferably a hard copy and a disk copy -- of any written work you hand in.

Thought paper (10%)
This assignment (750-1000 words, due 18 January) will be ungraded. Assuming you turn the paper in, you should receive full credit for doing so. I reserve the right, however, to give partial (or even no) credit to papers that fail to meet the assignment's requirements.

Response papers (10% each)
You may write up to five papers (750-1000 words each) over the course of the semester, each of which should be a critical (i.e., thoughtful and analytical) response to one or more of the assigned readings. Each of these is due no later than one week after the reading in question is assigned.

Case studies (10% each)
Over the course of the semester, I will post five case studies involving cultural diversity issues to the course website. For each case study, your task will be to write up a 1250-1500 word report that outlines the most important arguments from each side of the case (~250 words each), and that makes an argument (750-1000 words) for the best solution to the case. Due dates are listed on the course timetable.

Rewriting essays for a better grade.
You have the option of revising and resubmitting written work for a potentially higher grade. While rewriting assignments does not guarantee that you will receive a higher grade (it's possible, after all, to revise a paper without improving it enough to change its grade), it will never lower your grade. You must turn in the graded copy of the original assignment with any revisions you do. You will not receive credit for revisions of assignments that (1) you have already revised once, (2) were penalized for lateness, or (3) were never turned in at all. A maximum of 20% of your semester grade is eligible for this option. Revisions that do not result in a changed grade still count against the 20% limit. Rewritten essays must be submitted in hard copy format (e.g., on paper, not online) and the final due date for all rewritten work is 27 April.

CourseInfo Discussion Board participation
The primary purpose of the Discussion Board is to provide an informal space that's always available for discussion of the issues raised by the assigned readings and in our class meetings. Because discussions of this sort tend to be freeform in nature, there is no easy-to-summarize formula for assessing your Discussion Board grade. The minimum contribution to receive a passing grade, however, will be ten substantial (i.e., more than a paragraph long) posts spread out over the course of the semester. A more detailed explanation of how this portion of your grade will be calculated is available on a separate handout.

You must make your first on-topic post to the Discussion Board by the start of class on 25 January. The penalty for missing this deadline will be a grade point for every week or fraction thereof that you're late (e.g., not posting for the first time until 2 February will mean that the best you can do for this portion of your grade is an 8 out of 10).
Over the course of the session, I will place at least ten "virtual lectures" on the course website under the "Course Documents" heading. You are required to respond to each of at least three of those virtual lectures with a post to the appropriate Discussion Board forum (i.e., one post/virtual lecture, as opposed to one post that responds to three virtual lectures at once). The applicable penalty here will be a grade point for every post short of three that you fall (e.g., making only one virtual lecture post will mean that your maximum Discussion Board grade will be an 8 out of 10).
You are also required to post thoughtful responses to at least three essays (i.e., thought papers, response papers, and case studies) posted to the course website by other members of the class. Each of these posts must be in response to essays written by a different person on a different topic: e.g., responding to three different essays written by the same person or to three different essays on the same assigned reading (or the same case study) will not satisfy this requirement. Again, the applicable penalty here will be one grade point for every post short of three that you fall.

Should any of the penalties described above come into play, they will be applied to the top end of the scale: i.e., they lower the maximum credit you can receive for this portion of the course, rather than subtracting points from the score you earn otherwise.

N.B.: The written assignments that you turn in online -- i.e., the thought paper, response papers, and case studies -- do not count towards your Discussion Board participation grade.

miscellaneous

The purchase and/or sale of either written notes or audio recordings of our class meetings is strictly prohibited.
Cell phones, beepers, pagers, etc. are to be turned off or set to vibrate silently before you come to class. If your phone rings or if your beeper/pager goes off loudly enough to be heard during class, you will be required to leave immediately and you will not receive credit for attending or participating in class that day.
In keeping with the University Policy on Religious Observances, students who anticipate being absent from class due to a major religious observance must provide notice to me in writing by 18 January explaining which class period(s) you expect to miss and why.

introduction and overview

Jan 11	no reading

Jan 13	[handout] Nat Hentoff, "Prologue"
	[handout] Carolyn Marvin, "Bad Attitudes, Unnatural Acts"

philosophical beginnings

Jan 18	Thought paper due
	Areopagitica and Of Education, pp. vii-x, 1-56

Jan 20	[reserve] Stanley Fish, "There's No Such Thing As Free Speech and It's a Good Thing, Too"

Jan 25	Completed grading contract due
	First Discussion Board post due
	On Liberty and Utilitarianism, pp. vii-xxvi, 1-63

Jan 27	On Liberty and Utilitarianism, pp. 64-107

Feb 1	Case study #1 due
	On Liberty and Utilitarianism, pp. 108-133
	[reserve] Herbert Marcuse, "Repressive Tolerance"

Feb 3	The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States

court cases
"clear and present danger"

Feb 8	Schenck v. United States, 249 US 47 (1919)
	Gitlow v. New York, 268 US 652 (1925)
	Whitney v. California, 274 US 357 (1927)
	Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 US 444 (1969)

"fighting words"

Feb 10	Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 US 568 (1942)
	Terminiello v. Chicago, 337 US 1 (1949)
	Cohen v. California, 403 US 15 (1971)

hate speech

Feb 15	R.A.V. v. St. Paul, 505 US 377 (1992)
	Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 US 476 (1993)

flag burning

Feb 17	Texas v. Johnson, 491 US 397 (1989)
	United States v. Eichman, 496 US 310 (1990)

subversive politics

Feb 22	Case study #2 due
	Debs v. United States, 249 US 211 (1919)
	Stromberg v. California, 283 US 359 (1931)
	De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 US 353 (1937)

Feb 24	Watkins v. United States, 354 US 178 (1957)
	Lamont v. Postmaster General, 381 US 301 (1965)

Feb 29	Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 US 503 (1969)
	Ladue v. Gilleo, --- US --- (1994)

the press and national security

Mar 2

New York Times v. United States, 403 US 715 (1971)

libel and defamation of character

Mar 7	New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 US 254 (1964)
	Hustler v. Falwell, 485 US 46 (1988)

obscenity

Mar 9	Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 US 184 (1964)
	Miller v. California, 413 US 15 (1973)

Mar 14	NO CLASS -- SPRING BREAK

Mar 16	NO CLASS -- SPRING BREAK

"time, place, and manner"

Mar 21	Case study #3 due
	FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 US 726 (1978)

the internet

Mar 23

Reno v. ACLU, --- US --- (1997)

settled(??) out of court
sex . . .

Mar 28	[reserve] Commission on Obscenity and Pornography // Susan Brownmiller, "Should Pornography Be Protected as Free Speech?"
	[reserve] Frank Easterbrook // James C. Dobson, "Should Pornography Be Protected as Free Speech?"

Mar 30	[reserve] Susan Griffin, Pornography and Silence [selections]
	[reserve] Sallie Tisdale, Talk Dirty to Me [selections]

. . . and violence

Apr 4	[reserve] Jonathan Wallace and Mark Mangan, "Bomb Speech"
	[reserve] Nat Hentoff, "God, I Understand How They Feel, But When Will They Think?"

movies

Apr 6	[reserve] Jack Valenti // Paul Schrader, "Does the Letter Still Rate?
	[reserve] Peter Travers, "An X by Any Other Name"
	[reserve] Benjamin Svetkey, "Why Movie Ratings Don't Work"

music

Apr 11	Case study #4 due
	[reserve] Reebee Garofalo, "Setting the Record Straight"
	[reserve] Jonathan Alter, "Let's Stop Crying Wolf on Censorship"
	[reserve] Michael Eric Dyson, "Gangsta Rap and American Culture"

Apr 13	[reserve] Tricia Rose, "Fear of a Black Planet"

the nea

Apr 18

[reserve] Richard Bolton (ed.), Culture Wars [selections]

the internet

Apr 20	[reserve] Jonathan Wallace and Mark Mangan, "Memphis Rules"
	[reserve] Donna M. Riley, "Sex, Fear and Condescension on Campus"

fear and loathing

Apr 25

[reserve] The Turner Diaries [selections]

to be announced

Apr 27	All rewritten assignments due
	to be announced

finals week

May 2	NO CLASS
5:00 pm	Case study #5 due
	deadline for Discussion Board posts