Professors Amar, Brownstein Publish Op-ed on Free Speech and Campus Protests in Jurist

Vikram Amar, Associate Dean and Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law, and Professor Alan Brownstein have published an op-ed in Jurist on issues of freedom of speech and academic freedom connected to recent protests at UC Davis that resulted in the closing of a bank branch that had operated on campus. 

University officials have identified students who participated in the protests and referred them to the Yolo County District Attorney for prosecution under state laws that make it a misdemeanor to willfully obstruct public walkways in order to intentionally interfere with any lawful business.  The Davis Faculty Association (DFA), an independent organization that represents about 150 of UC Davis' approximately 2,100 teaching faculty, has objected to the university's actions in a letter/petition that defends the students' protests on the basis that they were politically motivated and morally justified.

Professors Amar and Brownstein write that the DFA's defense of the students on these grounds suggests "the need to use this episode as a ‘teachable moment.'" Their essay outlines the principles of free speech and academic freedom, which include "a commitment to the power of ideas rather than the use of force to change the way people act."  Blockades are "actually antithetical" to these values, they write, since they "are employed to coerce third parties to change their behavior."

Vikram Amar is a national authority in the fields of Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Remedies. His biweekly column for Justia.com, a leading provider of online legal information, centers on his expertise in Constitutional Law.

Professor Brownstein, a nationally recognized Constitutional Law scholar, teaches Constitutional Law, Law and Religion, and Torts at UC Davis School of Law, where he holds the Boochever and Bird Endowed Chair for the Study and Teaching of Freedom and Equality.

Jurist op-ed: "Defining the Boundaries of Free Speech in College Protests"