Curriculum | The Free Speech Project

Our Free Speech Modules are designed to be used in college, university, and advanced high school classes to discuss and assess the complexities of several Free Speech issues in the United States today.

Our hope is that by collecting and organizing these resources thematically, we will enable faculty and students to deepen their understanding of the myriad issues related to Free Speech in tense political and cultural times.

Modules

Can It Happen Here? The Return of Book-Banning – and even Book-Burning

Protesters hold signs in support of curriculum reform. They read

Censoring Curricula

Rohingya refugees support each other while crossing the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. According to legal action taken in the US and UK, Facebook’s amplification of and failure to remove hate speech targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has facilitated the genocide of the Rohingya people, which began in 2016

Social Media: The New Public Square?

Julian Assange

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March 2023.

Countdown for TikTok

Protesters stand outside the office of NSO Group, the developer of Pegasus, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 25, 2021.

Surveillance Technology: Watching People Everywhere

Insurrectionists stand in front of the US Capitol building holding American flags

Insurrection at the United States Capitol

Protesters at Charlottesville hold Klan symbols and American flags

ORIENTATION

Charlottesville and Beyond

Students protest at Middlebury College. One student holds a cardboard sign that reads 'no eugenics'

Mayhem at Middlebury College

Close of up a sign held up by two hands honoring Khashoggi. It reads

Press Freedom, Murder, and American Foreign Policy

Of Monuments and Memorials: ‘Silent Sam’ and Other Disquieting Reminders of the Past

Comedian Hasan Minhaj performing his comedy special,

Decline of Artistic Freedom in America?

Collin Kaepernick kneeling in the sidelines during the US anthem ahead of an NFL game

ORIENTATION

Colin Kaepernick’s America

Candles in memorial of journalists Gerald Fischman, Bob Hiassen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith, and Wendi Winter

‘Enemy of the People’ or Defenders of Democracy?

High School student protesters hold up cardboard signs against climate change

THE FREE SPEECH RIGHTS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

BACKGROUND READING

Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment, Anthony Lewis; Basic Books, 2007; paperback, 2009
The Soul of the First Amendment, Floyd Abrams; Yale University Press, 2017
On Liberty chapter 2 and chapter 4, John Stuart Mill, 1859
There’s No Such Thing as Free Speech, and It’s a Good Thing, Too, Stanley Fish; Oxford University Press, 1994
The Papers & The Papers: An Account of the Legal and Political Battle over the Pentagon Papers (Third Edition), Sanford J. Ungar; Columbia University Press, 1989

Themes

The entries on the Free Speech Tracker can be classified into many themes, including the 12 listed below; most entries relate to several different themes. Click on one of these themes to bring up a page that explores the theme in more detail and offers a list of related Tracker entries.

Let us Know!

Are you using the curriculum modules? We would love to hear from you. Please fill out this short survey or reach out to us at freespeechproject@georgetown.edu.