Freedom of Speech

Presenter Information

Jillene Preusser, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Jason Barnett, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Justin Sawyer, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Jon Rivers, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Jason Goebel, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Jordan Curtiss, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU 201

Start Date

28-4-2009 9:00 AM

End Date

28-4-2009 11:00 AM

Student's Major

Marketing and International Business

Student's College

Business

Mentor's Name

Vicki Luoma

Mentor's Department

Accounting and Business Law

Mentor's College

Business

Description

The freedom of speech is a right granted by the first amendment of the constitution. Citizens of the united State have the absolute right to express freely their ideas and opinions without fear of punishment and government interference. This freedom is an absolute freedom but there are exceptions, individual cannot infringe on another rights. Exceptions include hate speech, defamation, terrorist threats, sexual harassment, and pornography. It can be hard to determine what constitutes as an exception to the first amendment. We surveyed students to better understand the student population's view on the first amendment. In our survey we used a hypothetical case of parents wanting to name their child Adolph Hitler Jones and the city clerk refused to put the name on the birth certificate. We asked a series of questions to determine whether the students found this to be a violation of the first amendment and how far they thought the first amendment should extend.