navigate: home: magazine: fall 2000: article

Center helps safeguard First Amendment By Ellen P. James
Dr. Robert Richards (left), associate professor of journalism and law and associate dean for undergraduate education and faculty development, and Dr. Clay Calvert, assistant professor of communications and law, are co-directors of the Center for the First Amendment in Penn State’s College of Communications. Curt Krebs—University Photo/Graphics	In 1992, shortly after the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment, Penn State’s College of Communications established the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment, with the goal of promoting an awareness and understanding of the principles and freedoms embodied in that amendment.   “The center serves as a vehicle to translate our teaching and research and provides information to our students, the scholarly community and the public at large,” Dr. Robert Richards, founder of the center, said.   Richards, associate professor of journalism and law and associate dean for undergraduate education and faculty development, and Dr. Clay Calvert, assistant professor of communications and law, are co-directors of the Center for the First Amendment. Equipped with their combined journalism and law degrees, they bring their knowledge and expertise concerning the rights of free speech to Penn State and the local and national academic, legal and media communities.   At the core of the center’s outreach activities is the commitment to researching, teaching and disseminating knowledge about the complex issues of applying the First Amendment.   “The rights concerning freedom of the press, freedom of expression and freedom of speech are the cornerstone of any democracy,” Calvert said. “The center works to keep the public and the Penn State community informed of those rights.”   Both Calvert and Richards agree that the most dangerous attitude people can take toward the First Amendment is judging it by the company it keeps. Often, pornographers, bigots and the paparazzi defend their practices using the First Amendment. When such activities are taken to court, like the controversial cases showcased in the movie The People v. Larry Flynt, these trials can garner the most attention. Thus, with attention focused on the more unsavory aspects of the First Amendment, legislators and the public may call for restrictions on free speech.   As Richards writes in his book, Freedom’s Voice, “People are too quick and too willing to judge the First Amendment ... but doing so misses the extraordinary reach of [its] jurisprudence. It also masks the immense contribution to democratic self-governance that is embodied in this premier constitutional principle.”   As part of the mission of the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment, there are five main goals that Calvert and Richards work to achieve: To serve in an advisory capacity on the First Amendment. Calvert and Richards do this through friend-of-the-court briefs, or amicus briefs, where they collaborate in writing a defense of free speech to be used in cases. In addition to writing for the defense of free speech, they also appear in court and before legislative bodies providing expert testimony. In the past, Richards has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives concerning anti-paparazzi legislation. To unite educators, lawyers and journalists to discuss First Amendment issues. Throughout the First Amendment’s history, there has never been a shortage of debate regarding its meaning and merits. The center has hosted several roundtable discussions involving lawyers, newspaper reporters and editors, radio talk-show hosts and educators, drawing upon more than 40 faculty members in the College of Communications whose research and practice cover a broad range of media experience. The roundtable participants discuss the latest First Amendment topics, such as the talk radio “shock-jocks,” the right of pornography to free speech and the implications of TV ratings systems. To educate the public about First Amendment issues. Calvert and Richards have published extensively concerning their research of the First Amendment, disseminating the latest court cases and First Amendment issues by writing newspaper editorial columns. They also write for academic and law journals, and Richards has just published a book, Freedom’s Voice, which is an argument for safeguarding the First Amendment. To serve as media resources. Through the center, Calvert and Richards offer their expertise in communications law by giving interviews to reporters and appearing on national talk shows, each a forum to facilitate the discussion of First Amendment rights. To further the understanding of the First Amendment. Calvert and Richards examine the latest national issues concerning the First Amendment to judge where the center will next focus its attention for research, articles and discussions.   Since its founding, the Center for the First Amendment has placed a top research priority on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation or SLAPPs. These lawsuits are filed when a citizen or group speaks out against environmental or community development issues, for example at a town council meeting where they might criticize a company that is damaging the environment through its construction. The company then files suit claiming defamation or libel in an effort to squelch any criticism that could endanger the project. The community activists are thus SLAPPed.   “The developer doesn’t want to halt construction on the project and files the million-dollar suit in part to intimidate the instigators and make them cave under pressure while they’re paying lawyers’ fees to defend their constitutional rights,” Richards said.   According to Richards, although the defendants usually prevail when the cases are taken to court, they are drained financially and emotionally. Ultimately, the defendants serve as a warning to other community activists who might have considered exercising their rights to speak out against the company.   In these cases, the center offers valuable support and information to citizens.   “We are constantly getting phone calls from citizens who are struggling with these lawsuits and don’t know what to do,” Richards explained. “It is part of our mission to offer our own research into such matters, which can be utilized by the public in their own free speech court cases.”   As SLAPPs have become alarmingly commonplace, Richards has worked to expose the unconstitutional nature of such lawsuits by writing articles for The Washington Post, as well as other national newspapers, and by dedicating a chapter in Freedom’s Voice about SLAPPs. Additionally, he has helped other states draft anti-SLAPP legislation.   In early 1999, the impact of the center in combating SLAPPs was recognized by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate. Richards provided testimony to the House Judiciary Committee regarding SLAPPs, and an anti-SLAPP bill was passed by the entire assembly. The current anti-SLAPP measure, which will protect citizens from lawsuits when they exercise their right to free speech in matters of environmental law or regulation, is due to be debated by the Pennsylvania Senate this year.   Among the Center for the First Amendment’s other research interests is a current investigation into the effects of proposed campaign finance reform on political candidates’ access to media and potentially to free speech. Additionally, Calvert is researching how high schools are censoring student speech in school newspapers, following school shootings, such as at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999.   “Since the onset of such acts of school violence, there’s been a wave of educators who are censoring student publications,” Calvert said. “Anytime someone’s right to free speech is threatened, that can affect everyone’s right. Free speech affects everyone on a daily basis,” he added. “It is best protected when people are aware of their rights and understand the imperative of protecting the First Amendment.”
© 2002 Outreach Communications,   Outreach & Cooperative Extension,   The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108,   fax: (814) 863-2765,   e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu