First Amendment Studies in Arkansas

The Richard S. Arnold Prize Essays

Stephen Smith

• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781610755931
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

This collection of fourteen essays written by young communication scholars at the University of Arkansas presents unique insights into how First Amendment issues have played out in the state. Rather than exploring the particular legal issues and the constitutional principles enunciated by the courts, First Amendment Studies tells the stories of actual people expressing challenged or unpopular points of view and reveals the ways that constitutional controversies arise from the actions of local officials and individual citizens.

Drawing on public documents as well as extensive interviews with participants, these essays demonstrate the dynamics of democratic dissent—on college campuses, in public schools, in churches, on the streets, in the forests and on the farms, and in legislative chambers and courtrooms.

Each essay was selected for the Richard S. Arnold Prize in First Amendment Studies, an endowed fund established in 1999 to encourage University of Arkansas graduate students in communication and the liberal arts to explore and examine questions about freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Pickings v. Bruce: Students United for Rights and Equality
• Chapter 2. Neal v. Still: Unconstitutional Suppression of Campus Speech
• Chapter 3. Gay and Lesbian Students Association v. Gohn: Content Discrimination in Funding
• Chapter 4. Curtailing Criticism of Public Figures through Trademark and Branding
• Chapter 5. Book Censorship in Fayetteville Public Schools: “The Chocolate Wars” and the “Battle of the Books”
• Chapter 6. An Inquiry into Control of Content by the Arkansas Educational Television Network
• Chapter 7. Off-Campus Speech and On-Campus Punishment for Student Websites
• Chapter 8. State v. Rodgers: The 1935 Anarchy Trial of Ward Rodgers in Poinsett County
• Chapter 9. Johnson v. State: God, Country, and Joe Johnson
• Chapter 10. United States v. Burch: Freedom of Speech in the Ouachita National Forest
• Chapter 11. Nichols v. Chacon: Rhetoric, Law, and the Gesturing Man
• Chapter 12. Rhetorical Continuity: Evolution, Creation Science, and Intelligent Design
• Chapter 13. Doe v. Human: The Establishment Clause and Bible Story Time
• Chapter 14. Pulpit Politics: Politics and Sermons of Robert E. Smith and Ronnie Floyd
• Appendix
• List of Contributors
• Index