Dean Danielle M. Conway addresses academic freedom during ‘First Amendment & Expressive Speech’ panel

CARLISLE, Pa.— Penn State Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway participated in the “First Amendment & Expressive Speech” panel hosted by the Penn State Office of Academic & Student Services on November 11.

The event explored academic freedom, the types of speech protected by the First Amendment, Penn State's role as a public university in upholding free speech, the limits on free speech, and how to respond to speech one disagrees with.

Conway addressed the unique purpose of academic freedom. “Academic freedom is a much narrower concept than freedom of expression as exhibited in the First Amendment,” said Conway. “In practice, the impact of academic freedom is being lessened because we are not keeping the concept narrowly tailored and focused on its core objective.”

Citing Dean Emeritus Robert Post, she also discussed the distinctions between freedom of expression and academic freedom. “The purpose of freedom of expression is the safeguarding of self-government. Contrast that with the purpose of academic freedom, which is the protection of education and the advancement of knowledge. Each principle comes with its own set of constraints or guardrails,” said Conway, who participated in another panel on academic freedom earlier this fall.

Penn State Dickinson Law Senior Associate Dean for Student Lifecycle Operations and Administration Bekah Saidman-Krauss moderated the panel. Other Penn State senior administrators participating in the event included Stephanie Delaney, executive deputy chief of University Police & Public Safety; Tamla Lewis, associate general counsel; and Danny Shaha, assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

Danielle M. Conway is the Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law. A leading expert in procurement law, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property law, Dean Conway joined Penn State Dickinson Law after serving for four years as dean of the University of Maine School of Law and 14 years on the faculty of the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law. Dean Conway’s scholarly agenda and speeches have focused on, among other areas, advocating for public education and for actualizing the rights of marginalized groups and promoting systemic equity in legal education and the profession. Under her leadership, Penn State Dickinson Law’s Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) was created to facilitate the dismantling of structures that scaffold systemic racial inequality by using a systems design approach focused on implementing antiracist practices, processes, and policies throughout organizations.

Dean Conway is the current president-elect of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). She is the co-recipient of the inaugural AALS Impact Award, which recognized her work in co-curating the Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project, a webpage for law deans, faculty, staff, and the public that contains resources and information related to addressing systemic racism in law and legal education. Dean Conway is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the AALS Executive Committee, a director of the AccessLex Institute, and a 27-year veteran of the United States Army, retiring in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.