Cass Sunstein Guest-Blogging About "Campus Free Speech: A Pocket Guide"

I’m delighted to report that Prof. Cass Sunstein (Harvard) will be guest-blogging this week about this new book. Here’s the publisher’s summary:

From renowned legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein, a concise, case-by-case guide to resolving free-speech dilemmas at colleges and universities.

Free speech is indispensable on college campuses: allowing varied views and frank exchanges of opinion is a core component of the educational enterprise and the pursuit of truth. But free speech does not mean a free-for-all. The First Amendment prohibits “abridging the freedom of speech,” yet laws against perjury or bribery, for example, are still constitutional. In the same way, valuing freedom of speech does not stop a university from regulating speech when doing so is necessary for its educational mission. So where is the dividing line? How can we distinguish reasonable restrictions from impermissible infringement?

In this pragmatic, no-nonsense explainer, Cass Sunstein takes us through a wide range of scenarios involving students, professors, and administrators. He discusses why it’s consistent with the First Amendment to punish students who shout down a speaker, but not those who chant offensive slogans; why a professor cannot be fired for writing a politically charged op-ed, yet a university might legitimately consider an applicant’s political views when deciding whether to hire her. He explains why private universities are not legally bound by the First Amendment yet should, in most cases, look to follow it. And he addresses the thorny question of whether a university should officially take sides on public issues or deliberately keep the institution outside the fray.

At a time when universities are assailed on free-speech grounds from both left and right, Campus Free Speech: A Pocket Guide is an indispensable resource for cutting through the noise and understanding the key issues animating the debates.

And the jacket blurbs:

“Campus free speech has suddenly become an issue on everyone’s mind, featured in headlines about campus disruptions, controversial congressional testimony, and loss of trust in our institutions of higher education. Yet few people can articulate a coherent policy about free speech at colleges and universities. To the rescue comes Cass Sunstein, with a succinct and comprehensive primer. Clear, erudite, and to the point, Campus Free Speech lays out the underlying principles and the easy and hard cases. Read this book and you’ll know what you’re talking about when you talk about free speech and academic freedom.”―Steven Pinker, author of Rationality and Enlightenment Now

“A thoughtful, fair-minded, and concise analysis by one of America’s top legal scholars. Highly recommended for anyone interested in today’s campus free speech controversies.”―Eugene Volokh, cofounder of The Volokh Conspiracy

“At a time of national crisis regarding free speech on college and university campuses, Cass Sunstein’s Campus Free Speech offers a truly brilliant and readily accessible analysis of how academic administrators, faculty, students, alumni, legislators, and others should think about these deeply troubling issues. No one interested in these challenges to our nation and its future should fail to read this book.”―Geoffrey R. Stone, author of Perilous Times

“With this brilliant little volume, Cass Sunstein has achieved the near impossible: taking an extraordinarily complex area of First Amendment law and synthesizing it into a crisp, useful, and intellectually stimulating set of answers to free speech issues we see daily on America’s college and university campuses. By any standard, a tour de force.”―Lee C. Bollinger, author of Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open

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