SARASOTA, Fla. — New College of Florida will host a Socratic Stage Dialogue Series Event: “Free Speech, Academic Freedom, and Political Expression” on Wednesday, April 10, 6-7:30 p.m. at Sainer Auditorium, 5313 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota. New College Trustee Dr. Mark Bauerlein will interview Presidential Scholar in Residence Dr. Stanley Fish on timely questions relating to academic freedom and political expression on college campuses. The event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is requested. Online registration is now open.
Among the important questions that will be discussed include:
- “Are people free to speak their minds on campuses in America today?”
- “Are certain viewpoints forbidden, certain words proscribed-and rightfully so?”
- “What are the limits of free speech?”
- “Should politics by allowed in the classroom?”
- “Why shouldn’t individuals who trade in offensive speech be canceled?”
“Mark Bauerlein and Stanley Fish are giants in the field of academia, and their conversation will be a can’t miss event within our community,” said New College President Richard Corcoran. “Dr. Bauerlein’s leadership on our Board of Trustees over the last year and Dr. Fish’s presence in the classroom this spring have been great assets for advancing New College on the path to being America’s number one liberal arts college.”
Dr. Mark Bauerlein is Professor Emeritus of English at Emory University and an editor at First Things magazine. In 2003–‘05, he served as the Director, Office of Research and Analysis, at the National Endowment for the Arts. He is the author or editor of 11 books, including Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906 (2001) and The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (2008). His essays have appeared in Yale Review, Partisan Review, Wilson Quarterly, PMLA, and Philosophy and Literature. Apart from his scholarly work, Dr. Bauerlein publishes in popular periodicals such as New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post, TLS, and Chronicle of Higher Education. He has been interviewed by media outlets more than 500 times, including spots on CNN, Fox News, NPR, BBC World Today, CBS News, Nightline, PBS Frontline, and 20/20. Bauerlein earned his doctorate in English from UCLA.
Dr. Stanley Fish brings more than 60 years of scholarship with him to New College, where he serves as a Presidential Scholar in Residence. His incredible career has included teaching stops at Duke, Johns Hopkins, and Cal Berkeley. There is a dedicated library archive of his work at the University of California, Irvine. He has held the title of Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law, Florida International University since 2005, and Dean Emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Chicago Tribune named Fish was Chicagoan of the Year for Culture in 2003. In the past thirty years, there have been some two hundred articles, books, parts of books, dissertations, review articles, etc., devoted to his work. Fish earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania and his master’s and Ph.D. at Yale. Professor Fish has published more than 20 books. His latest is Law at the Movies, Oxford 2024.
For more information, visit New College Office of Public Policy Events webpage.