MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University will be hosting two upcoming events discussing increasingly hot topics in public discourse — freedom of speech and book bans.

Nadine Strossen, New York Law School professor emerita and former national American Civil Liberties Union president, will be hosting a Q&A session on freedom of speech from 10:20 to 11:20 a.m. Monday, Sept. 23, in the Keathley University Center Theatre, 1524 Military Memorial.

Strossen will answer audience questions about the specific aspects of free speech that are most concerning to them. 

Meanwhile, MTSU’s College of Education and its Center for Fairness, Justice and Equity are hosting a “Let freedom READ!” Banned Books MT Engage Week Event from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, in the College of Education Building, Room 160, 1756 MTSU Blvd. 

This event will feature Keri Lambert, vice president of the Rutherford County Library Alliance, and will including reading and discussing banned books and learn about Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Everyone who attends gets a free banned book.

Strossen’s visit ‘more important than ever’

Frank Lambert, associate professor of library and information sciences for the College of Education’s Womack Educational Leadership Department, one of several event sponsors for Strossen’s visit, said recent actions by the General Assembly as well public libraries and school boards have resulted in what he believes are dangerous forms of censorship. 

Strossen is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, also known as FIRE, and serves on the advisory boards of several organizations that promote free speech and academic freedom. 

“Having someone like Nadine Strossen come to MTSU and share her extensive knowledge about all of our free speech rights is more important than ever,” Lambert said. “We take free speech for granted in this country. As a result, when government starts to make curbs on our free speech rights, we may not think of the impact this has on other persons, let alone on ourselves and the institutions with whom we interact.”

Strossen is an internationally acclaimed free speech scholar and advocate and serves as the host of the three-part public TV series “Free to Speak” (2023). She’s also authored “Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know” (2023) and “HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship” (2018).

“Ms. Strossen’s presentation will hopefully clear up any misconceptions any of us may have about free speech rights and why it is so very important to keep our government leaders honest and committed to the spirit of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights as well as ensuring that they adhere to the interpretations and decisions made in past court cases that continue to reaffirm that people of all ages have the right to access information and literature that suits their tastes and meets their information needs,” Lambert said.

Strossen will also be featured on The Edwin Lee Raymer Show on WGNS-FM radio at 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22.

Off-campus visitors to Strossen’s MTSU event can obtain a temporary permit from the Parking and Transportation Services office at 205 City View Drive or pay by plate by visiting this webpage, https://bit.ly/mtvisitorparking, and clicking the appropriate link under “Visitor Parking.” Visitor permits are $2 per day. A parking map and more information is available at https://mtsu.edu/parking/.

Lambert warns of ‘slippery slope’

Meanwhile, Lambert’s wife, Keri Lambert, will visit campus a few days after Strossen’s visit to discuss the issue of banned books in her role with Rutherford County Library Alliance, a nonprofit that formed a little over a year ago to watch public and school libraries and how state legislation affects them. 

“If you believe in the Constitution of the United States of America, you need to know that right now, there are certain people trying to take away the rights that you are guaranteed in that constitution, and it’s a slippery slope,” Keri Lambert said.

“Once they start taking away some rights, and there’s not enough pushback, they’re going to start coming for more rights. If you care about democracy and you care about freedom, you want to educate yourself on these topics.”

The nonprofit has already stopped two Senate bills in the past year as well as being recognized with the Tennessee Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Award, she added.

“We are hosting a banned books event to address the pressing issue of book restrictions in Tennessee,” said Katie Schrodt, College of Education associate professor and leader of the Banned Books event. 

“Our goals are to inform participants about local book restrictions and state laws, discuss the First Amendment rights of both adults and children, provide a forum for open dialogue about banned books and distribute free books to attendees, promoting literacy and access to diverse literature.”

Lambert explained the focus of the event is to explain how the Tennessee Age-Appropriate Materials Act will impact teachers and librarians in public schools.

“We’re going to be talking about how the laws affect them and making sure that people can fully understand the laws, because they use very vague language, and a lot of people are confused across the state — whether it’s the teachers, the parents, school boards or local politicians,” Lambert said, adding that the state legislation actually harms children and youth by preventing them from accessing helpful educational materials and information.

The Rutherford County Library Alliance will be attending the Rutherford County School Board Meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, wearing purple attire to show political neutrality, to stand against the banning of seven books that the school board will be voting on, Lambert said.

“They’ve been working on restricting access to information for a few years, and we’ve already seen so many books removed from our public library,” Lambert said. “Last year, there were … close to 30 books removed from our public school system, and only two of them went through the process that the board had outlined for going through the committee, determining if it’s appropriate.”

An MTSU parking map and more information is available at https://mtsu.edu/parking/.

— Maddy Williams (Maddy.Williams@mtsu.edu)