Brandeis School of Law hosts Free Speech vs. Hate Speech Forum

Brandeis School of Law recently hosted a Free Speech Discussion Forum, featuring scholars from France, Hungary and the United Kingdom, as well as Brandeis Professor Russ Weaver.

Topics discussed were:

• Are college administrators mistaking free speech by faculty and students as threats?
• Should an anti-Semitic comedian be sanctioned by the French government for proclaiming his support for one of the murderers in the Charlie Hebdo incident in January?

The forum included Eric Heinze, a law professor at Queen Mary College in London, U.K., discussing “Hate Speech and Democratic Citizenship;" Will Creeley, from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) on student speech; William Gilles, a law professor from the Sorbonne in Paris; and Professor Weaver, who compared free speech laws in France and the United States.

Weaver argues that French laws are too oppressive and do not match the U.S. standards for free speech.

The Free Speech Discussion Forum brought together prominent free speech scholars from various countries to discuss issues related to the intersection between free speech and the criminal law. Since some countries criminalize hate speech, and others do not, there was a lively discussion regarding the role of speech in a free society and whether government should be allowed to regulate and control what people can say in a free society," Weaver said. "The issues were analyzed, not only from comparative perspectives, but also from the perspective of society's desire to protect minorities and other historically-disadvantaged groups."

Papers from the forum will be published by Carolina Academic Press.