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John K. Wilson: Freedom of Speech? Censoring Art on Campus

Mon Mar 09, 2020 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Presented by BAMPFA.

John K. Wilson, a 2019–20 fellow with the University of California National Center on Free Speech and Civic Engagement, discusses the past and present problem of art censorship on campus. Showing examples of artworks, performances, and cartoons that have been censored at colleges around the country, he asks, What can colleges do to protect artistic freedom on campus? His talk also touches on campus controversies over anti-racist art that includes images of the Ku Klux Klan.

Wilson is the coeditor of AcademeBlog.org for the American Association of University Professors, and the author of eight books, including The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education and Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies.  

Wilson is a 2019-20 Fellow with the University of California National Center on Free Speech and Civic Engagement. He is the co-editor of AcademeBlog.org for the American Association of University Professors, and the author of eight books, including The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education and Patriotic Correctness: Academic Freedom and Its Enemies.  Wilson, who holds a Ph.D. in Education from Illinois State University, is also the co-organizer of the Chicago Book Expo and the Evanston Literary Festival. Wilson's research project at the UC National Center on Free Speech and Civic Engagement, titled "Freedom of the Press on Campus," undertakes to create a database of campus policies regarding the media, compile a list of incidents where media freedom is restricted on campus, and establish model policies for colleges with regard to student media, media access, and social media. He will be spending a week in March in residency at Berkeley organizing events related to free expression.

For more information, visit artsdesign.berkeley.edu