Oxbridge Lecture Series Fall 2008
Dr. Brian Carroll
Asst. Professor of Communication
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Fall 2008 Oxbridge Lecture Series Course:Got Freedom of Expression®? (HON 251)
Oxbridge Lecture Series
In 2008, questions, issues, and debates centered on the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution and its role in government
and society are as contentious as ever. From presidential politics to
local classrooms to what we can access via the Internet, we continue to
argue the fine points of a 45-word, 217-year-old amendment that seeks to
protect freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.
Unfortunately, if one poll is correct, Americans know more about
“The Simpsons” animated TV show than the First Amendment.1 Only one in four could name more than one of the
five freedoms the First articulates, yet more than half could name at
least two members of the cartoon TV family. Far more could name all
three “American Idol” judges than the First’s articulated freedoms, and
about one in five thought the right to own a pet was one of these
freedoms. Freedom for many, it would seem, is only a word.
Got Freedom of Expression®? (HON 251) examines the origins and
historical uniqueness of the First Amendment, the evolution in
interpretations of its freedoms over time, and the contemporary
challenges to one of the United States’ most basic laws. These
challenges include technological change, a seemingly endless war,
religiosity in politics, and, as Neil Postman persuasively argued, the
ignorance that results from a society’s members “amusing ourselves to
death.”2
The course includes the option for students to exercise their
First Amendment right to freedom of expression instead of a traditional
research paper, an option that asks students to identify a public issue
about which they feel strongly, prepare a project proposal, then plan
and organize how they will bring their issue to a larger audience.
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1 “Simpsons ‘trump’ First Amendment,”
BBC News, 1 March 2006, available:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4761294.stm . The poll was
conducted in February.
2 Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to
Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (New York:
Penguin, 1986).