OU celebrates Free Speech Week to emphasize that diverse perspectives are welcomed and integral to the educational environment. This year Free Speech Week will be observed October 18-24, 2021.
Throughout American history, our universities have been places where free inquiry, intellectual exploration, and personal growth have enriched students’ lives and prepared them for citizenship. Public universities have the unique mission of making the promise of opportunity available to all who have the ability and determination to succeed, regardless of background.
– Joseph Harroz, Jr., President
October 21, 2021
3:00 p.m.
Sandy Bell Gallery located inside the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
Keith E. Whittington is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He writes about American constitutional law, politics and history and American political thought. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Texas School of Law, Harvard Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center. He is a member of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences and serves on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Texas at Austin and completed his Ph.D. in political science at Yale University.
His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Atlantic, among other outlets, and he is a regular contributor to the Volokh Conspiracy blog. He is the author of several books, including most recently Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech and Repugnant Laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present.
Sponsored by Institute for the American Constitutional Heritage.
October 21, 2021
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Lobby of the OU School of Visual Arts (520 Parrington Oval)
In celebration of free speech week, the OU Print Club will be live screen-printing original designs onto t-shirts and tote bags for anyone and everyone who stops by Thursday, October 21 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in the lobby of the OU School of Visual Arts. If you bring your own shirt or bag, we will print on it for free. If you'd prefer a new shirt or bag, Print Club will have those available for sale ($10/shirt, $5/tote). All designs will be created by OU students and faculty, and several will feature themes related to free speech.His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Atlantic, among other outlets, and he is a regular contributor to the Volokh Conspiracy blog. He is the author of several books, including most recently Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech and Repugnant Laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present.
October 22, 2021
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
The Adventure of Civility Zoom Conference Meeting
Meeting ID: 382 223 6992
Our young century is awash with urgent questions of survival, of meaning, of how we structure our common life and who we are to each other. And yet it seems we are more divided than ever before - unable to listen and speak across the differences we must engage to create the world we want for ourselves and our children. Krista Tippett's will speak with us about how we can all shape our presence to this moment we inhabit and begin to create the conversations we want to be hearing, where we live.
October 23, 2021
Essays will respond to the following questions:
What does Free Speech mean to you? What is the correlation between diversity, equity, and inclusion and free speech?
Who's Eligible:
Undergraduate students and Graduate Students from all three campuses (Norman, HSC, Tulsa). A winner will be selected from each campus.
The Basic Things to Know:
Scoring Process and Criteria:
A submitted essay will be scored by members of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion based on the following criteria:
Essay Contest Award:
Each winner will receive a $300 Scholarship.
Political ads have long been a form of free speech and open discussion on issues facing our nation and communities. View the archive, curated by the Carl Albert Center, of political ads through the years.
Student journalism is a key aspect of free speech protected by the First Amendment and plays a valuable role on many college campuses across the nation. The OU Daily is a student-led newspaper on the Norman campus that serves the OU community through university stories, outlining news, and amplifying student, faculty, and staff voices.
The Carl Albert Center partnered with the Oklahoma Historical Society, funded by Inasmuch, and recently completed a project to analyze and digitize the historical background and past projects of the OU Daily and past papers at OU.
To view how the OU Daily has reported on university events and past protests on campus:
