• Is free speech a right or a privilege?
• Who is allowed to speak, and what are they allowed to say?
• Is freedom of expression a necessary feature of a democracy?
• What (if any) limits do we need to place on free speech?
• Does free speech necessarily carry with it certain responsibilities?
• What (if any) forms of expression don't merit constitutional protection?
• What types of restriction on expression count as censorship?
• Can we distinguish speech from action? Should we? And, if so, how?
• What (if any) are the drawbacks to unrestricted speech?
• And who is empowered to make these decisions anyway?

1. Books. Available at the University Book Store.
   1. John Milton, Areopagitica
   2. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
   3. Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm, Four Theories of the Press
   4. Dave Marsh, 50 Ways to Fight Censorship
2. Coursepack of photocopied articles. Available at Staples (ask for the "Rodman" coursepack) and the reserve desk of the USF Library (under the title "Coursepack").
3. An e-mail account. Participation in the listserv (FREEDOM-L) that has been set up for this course will require you to have (and use) an e-mail account. For those of you who don't already have an e-mail account, information on how to sign up for one is available on a separate handout.

	Attendance				10%
	Participation				20%
	Listserv participation			10%
	Thought paper				10%
	Two (2) 3-4 page critical essays	20% (10% each)
	Take-home final exam			30%

	Attendance				5%
	Participation				15%
	Listserv participation			10%
	Thought paper				0%
	Two (2) 3-4 page critical essays	20% (10% each)
	Take-home final exam			30%
	Pop quizzes				20%

	subscribe FREEDOM-L your-firstname your-lastname

• If you're new to e-mail, get your account set up right away. This gives you plenty of time to get used to using e-mail early on and still do well on this part of the course.
• Subscribe to the list. If you're not subscribed, you can't post. If you can't post, you can't participate. If you can't participate, you've given up 10% of your final grade. It's that simple.
• Post often. Five posts addressing questions from five different units are worth more than five posts all on the same topic.
• Post in a timely fashion. While it is better to post late on a topic than not at all, it's worth far more to post while an issue is still under active discussion.

1. Read your syllabus and assignment handouts. Aside from telling you what to read and when you need to do so, these documents contain the basic ground rules by which this course works. And while, under exceptional circumstances (e.g., life and death emergencies), I may be willing to bend some of these rules, ignorance of the rules on your part isn't one of them.
2. Read the required course materials as scheduled. This should be self-explanatory. But to drive the point home: everything you'll do for a grade this semester depends on your having thoughtfully consumed the assigned readings. If you blow these off, you will have lots of trouble with our in-class discussions, the papers, the listserv, and the exam.
3. Think about what you read. None of the material for this course is intended to be consumed passively. If you're only reading to absorb "facts" or to be entertained, you will not do well. And while you're certainly allowed (and even encouraged) to learn new facts and have fun, it's more crucial that you approach the assigned readings in a critical and thoughtful fashion.
4. Attend class . . . and show up on time. Not just because I'll take attendance, but because our discussions will raise questions about the material at hand that won't always be obvious to you from the readings alone. Our class periods will be spent discussing (and often arguing about) the readings, not summarizing them. You can (and should) expect issues raised in class to be on the exams. Also, be forewarned that I will treat consistently late arrivals as if they were absences.
5. Come to class prepared to discuss the readings. Think about what the readings are trying to say and then share those thoughts with the class. Even if you don't understand a given article, feel free to ask questions about it. Not all of these readings are easy: if you're confused, it's likely other people are as well. The more people who participate in our discussions, the more we'll all get out of them.
6. Write clearly. This is not a remedial writing class, so you aren't guaranteed a good grade on either your papers or your exams merely by constructing grammatical sentences made up of properly spelled words. Nevertheless, if your grammar (or spelling or punctuation) interferes with my ability to understand what you're trying to say, your grade will be negatively affected.
7. Argue your points. Do not merely assert them. For example, simply saying that you think that pornography should be banned is far less convincing (and receives far less credit) than explaining why you think that's the case. On a related note, avoid using terms like "obviously," "clearly," and "of course." In most cases, if you have to say something is "obvious," it isn't obvious at all.
8. Argue your points well. Make sure the facts support your case. Avoid overly broad generalizations. And, perhaps most importantly, anticipate potential counter-arguments or alternate explanations to your position -- especially if your argument runs contrary to ideas we've already covered in the course. You don't have to agree with any of the authors we'll read, but if you take a contrary position to an argument made in the assigned course material, you do have to explain why you're right and the reading in question is wrong.
9. See me as necessary. If you don't understand why you received a particular grade, or the reading has you baffled, or you have any other questions about the course, feel free to come talk to me during my office hours (or make an appointment to meet with me at some other time).
10. Think ahead. The chances of my accepting late work without penalizing you improve dramatically with advance notice and a reasonable justification for the anticipated delay. Similarly, do not wait until the night before the final is due to catch up on all the reading. This is not a course where simple rote memorization of names and dates will earn you an acceptable grade. Bear in mind that the semester will go by faster than you think and plan accordingly.