You are cordially invited to Missouri’s Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution Annual Symposium, to be held on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, in Columbia, Missouri, on the topic “The First Amendment on Campus: Identifying Best Practices for Managing and Resolving Disputes.”
Almost weekly, events on our nation’s campuses vividly demonstrate conflicting attitudes about the boundaries of free speech and expression. Many angles of inquiry exist for this important subject. The focus of this symposium is the complex intersection between free expression and conflict at universities – in particular, what processes and procedures are appropriate for managing free speech disputes on our campuses, and how best to facilitate peaceful, appropriate, and lawful resolutions or accommodations of the underlying conflicts. By bringing together free speech scholars, dispute resolution experts, and university leaders with experience with free expression conflict, we hope to advance our understanding of how university leaders can remain true to both the mission of the university and the values of the First Amendment.
We are delighted that Dean Robert Post of the Yale Law School, a noted First Amendment scholar, will be our keynote speaker. Lisa Amsler (Indiana), Jennifer Brown (Quinnipiac), and Grande Lum (Ohio State) will anchor an afternoon panel on lessons to be learned from DR scholarship. And there are other panels, too. For registration information, the program, the speakers, and other details, and to register online, please go to the symposium website.
At the website, you can also link to information about – and you are invited to participate in — the symposium’s Work-in-Progress Workshop, on Thurs., Oct. 26, 2017. The purpose of the workshop is to help authors (including LLM, SJD, and PhD students) develop draft articles for eventual publication on any topic pertaining to dispute resolution and free speech, dispute resolution and campus protest, community level dispute resolution, dispute resolution system design, or related topics. Registration is now open, and acceptances of proposals to present will be extended until all spots are filled.
You are also encouraged to bring to the attention of your law, graduate, and professional students a Writing Competition being held in connection with the symposium on the topic “Campus Speech, Protest, and Conflict Resolution.” More details are available at the previous link; the deadline for submissions is February 15, 2018.
For more information about any aspect of the symposium or the related activities, please contact symposium co-directors Prof. Bob Jerry or Prof. Chris Wells, or CSDR Assistant Laura Coleman at 573-882-5969.
Robert H. Jerry, II
Isidor Loeb Professor of Law
Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution
School of Law, University of Missouri
