Grants Offered for Campus Free Speech Programs

Posted by Terry Francke, General Counsel | May 25, 2010 | Legal Issue: Freedom of Speech | 0 |

FREE SPEECH — Given the difficulty some community college boards and administrators seem to have in grasping basic free speech concepts, the relevant faculty members may wish to apply for this grant to bring First Amendment experts to campus for general enlightenment. But act soon; deadline to apply is June 1.

According to Sandra Chance, executive director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida and campus coordinator for the project,

The Liberty Tree Initiative is accepting applications for its second round of funding to support First Amendment programs on college campuses across the country. In 2009-2010, funding from the McCormick Foundation provided $5,000 grants to 10 universities for diverse Liberty Tree Initiative programs and First Amendment celebrations, from Connecticut to California, North Carolina to Pennsylvania.

Up to 20 campuses will receive $5,000 grants to promote the First Amendment by bringing thought-provoking programs and nationally renowned speakers to their campuses during the 2010-2011 academic year.

The Liberty Tree Initiative is a remarkable partnership that taps into the energy of the First Amendment and the insights of experts, academic leaders, artists, musicians and journalists, according to Ken Paulson, president and chief operating officer of the Freedom Forum and Newseum in Washington, D.C. , and former editor of USA Today. Paulson is one of the driving forces behind the initiative, designed to continue the tradition of constructive and collegial conversations about freedom started by Americas earliest patriots under an elm tree near the Boston Commons in 1665.

To see examples of last years programs, check out our Facebook page.

For more information, contact Professor at Chance (schance@jou.ufl.edu).

About The Editor

Terry Francke, General Counsel

Terry Francke has a 39-year history of helping journalists, citizens and public officials understand and use their First Amendment and open government rights. With CalAware, Francke has authored comprehensive and authoritative guidebooks to California law on access to government meetings and public records and the news gathering and publication rights of journalists. Focusing on these issues in public forum law, he supervises CalAware's legislative and litigation initiatives; conducts workshops on legal compliance; helps design public records audits; supports local sunshine ordinance drafting efforts; writes CalAware Today, a blog on current developments and proposals in the law and best practices; and answers countless queries by phone and e-mail from citizens, journalists, public officials and employees, and lawyers. Francke previously served 14 years as executive director and general counsel to the California First Amendment Coalition, after a 10-year post as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association. He has served as an advisory panel member to the National Center on Courts and the Media; taught journalism law at the Department of Communication at Stanford University; and served as an expert contributor to the 1994 major revisions to the Ralph M. Brown Act and the 2004 ballot proposition making open government a basic right of citizens under the California Constitution. Francke is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a 1979 graduate of McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Prior to his legal career, Francke worked as a weekly newspaper editor and in military and local government public affairs positions.

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