By Elianna Novitch
An all-day event Tuesday will explore the place of the First Amendment in modern America in hopes of educating the University of Iowa community.
The event, called Free Speech Day, will highlight issues from the use of free speech in such places as academic settings to commentary on its impact in society and the media.
“The two goals of this event are to teach people what the First Amendment is, what it says, and what it protects, and then how do you use the rights it gives you,” said UI Graduate and Professional Student Government President Josh Schoenfeld.
The event will be held Tuesday from 1 to 8 p.m. in the IMU Main Lounge. It is free and open to the public.
GPSG has been working on this event for about year and a half. GPSG Vice President Jasmine Mangrum said the idea for the event came from the need to clearly define what free speech is and from a gap in education being provided to students about free speech and hate speech.
A variety of speakers will speak at the event to provide a wide range of perspectives on the use of free speech.
“[When it came to picking speakers for the event], we wanted to be representative of many different people,” Mangrum said. “We wanted to have different genders, different races, people from different backgrounds and different careers speaking at the event.”
Some of the speakers for the event include faculty members from different departments and colleges of the UI, including Professor David Ryfe of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, who will speak about the freedom of press.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for students to have a conversation about the concept of the freedom of speech,” he said. “This is a campus in which there have been a lot of free-speech issues or events involving the freedom of speech the past couple of years, and it’s easy for students who haven’t been educated in the concept of the freedom of speech to have a mistaken impression about it.”
The keynote speaker of the event is Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist and political commentator. She will speak about free speech, leadership, and activism to close out the event starting at 6:30 p.m.
Free Speech Day is being put on collectively by GPSG, UI Student Government, University Lecture Committee, IMU, and the Office of the President.
“We want this event to motivate the campus to continue to have dialogue about free speech and its use and place in the community,” Schoenfeld said. “No matter what your views are on free speech or current political affairs, I think it will be an engaging event that we can all benefit from.”