Chancellor Martin and USC Law Professor teach free speech course

Chancellor Andrew Martin lectures in front of students as part of his course on free speech. (Lydia Nicholson | Student Life)

Chancellor Andrew Martin and Lee Epstein, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, jointly taught a two-day lecture class that focused on the history and significance of freedom of expression on college campuses, March 29 and 30. 

The course was first taught in 2020 and is now an 100-seat 1-credit class with 68 enrolled students at time of publication. In an interview with Student Life, Chancellor Martin said he plans to write a book about the class in years to come and has submitted the idea to a publisher.

“We can scale this course at Washington University only so much with me teaching,” Martin said. “But if we write a book and then make the teaching materials available to other instructors around on our campus and around the country, we’re really hoping we can touch many more students.”

In 2023, Washington University dropped from 99th to 135th in College Pulse’s Free Speech rankings, which are dependent on student perceptions of how open their college communities are to free expression. 

Martin hopes the course will inform students how to balance free speech while maintaining the WashU community.

The course “Free Speech on Campus” is available to all undergraduate students, regardless of major and class. Each year, the instructors for the course select recent real-world cases of First Amendment issues on college campuses that students analyze at the end of the class.

“We update those cases and controversies every year,” Martin said. “For each of [the cases], we provide a set of questions, sometimes defend this particular action, sometimes condemn a particular action.”

The course not only focused on free speech on campuses as a whole but also specifically at Washington University. Ella Scott, a sophomore who took the course and also serves as a senator in Student Union, said she appreciated that the course shed light on how and why the University operates the way it does.

“I think it’s been really helpful just to better understand the federal regulations, and what the University is doing as a separate entity,” said Scott.

Scott took the class to further understand how to respect free speech in her role as a senator.

“Free speech has been something that we’ve been talking about over the last couple of months, such as what is Senate’s role in…deciding whether or not to make controversial statements,” Scott said.

First-year and political science student Aratrika Ghosh took the class based on her interests. 

“I decided to do this class because I’m really interested in law and political science so this was a really good intersection of those two interests,” said Ghosh.

In a written statement to Student Life, Professor Lee Epstein said an important aspect of the class is that students are given the freedom to form their own perspectives. 

“Rather than tell students what to think on the question of free speech, we believe a better approach—and one far more compatible with the University’s educative mission—is to equip students with the tools that, as free and independent thinkers, they will need to make informed judgments about campus controversies for themselves,” Epstein said.

Lee Epstein, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, talks in front of students. (Lydia Nicholson | Student Life)

Epstein hopes this class will bolster critical thinking and help students further understand the ramifications of their actions on the WashU community and beyond.

“Buoyed by this new-found critical thinking, members of the community, we hope, will become less reactive and more reflective in their awareness of the nuances of free speech problems, and thus more sensitive to their profound implications for democracy itself.”

Sophomore and SU senator Ashton Lee, who took the course, said this class shows that the University cares for student voices.

“It’s pretty cool to know that our administration is dedicated to teaching students about free speech and what that means for students who want to be vocal and active about the changes in our country or changes on our campus.”

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