Free speech and censorship concerns are frequent campus topics in civics, journalism, law, religion and the arts. But freedom to speak in scientific fields, and to publish research without fear of censorship or intimidation, is equally vital – particularly in light of reports of suppressed climate research and communications among government scientists.

Scheduled for the week of April 15th, the Science: Unsilenced series at the University of Florida aims to ignite campus conversations around free speech and censorship, expanding the breadth of disciplines and stakeholders who feel ownership in the First Amendment and its protections.

Speakers

Christine Arena, creator and executive producer of “Let Science Speak,” a documentary and campaign to defend America’s environmental scientists. BIO

 

Connie Bersok, a thirty-year wetlands scientiest at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection suspended after her critical memo against a wetlands permit.  BIO

Joel Clement, Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, served at the U.S. Interior Department before his public resignation charging retaliation for disclosing climate change impacts. BIO

Sonja R. West, Otis Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law at the University of Georgia, who will lecture at UF Health on doctors and freedom of speech. BIO

Schedule

Monday 4/15: Short film screening and free pizza lunch: “Let Science Speak,” Frazier-Rogers Hall, room 122. Screenings and pizza from 11:30-12:15 p.m. or 12:30-1:15 p.m.  If you are planning to attend, please RSVP.

Tuesday 4/16: Science: Unsilenced panel, Pugh Hall Ocora, 6 p.m. Join UF climate scientist Andrea Dutton; Kennedy School senior fellow Joel Clement; retired Florida DEP scientist Connie Bersok; and UF Brechner Center director Frank LoMonte for a discussion on the spectrum of censorship scientists are experiencing, the protections they have or lack, and possible solutions.

Wednesday 4/17: Film screening and producer talk, “Let Science Speak,” Smathers Library Room 100, film screening and virtual Q&A with filmmaker Christine Arena. With refreshments! Film 1:15; filmmaker interview 2 p.m.

Wednesday 4/17: Physicians and the First Amendment panel, Sonja R. West, Otis Brumby Distinguished Professor in First Amendment Law at the University of Georgia School of Law, speaks on free-speech issues involving doctors, followed by a roundtable with UF physicians, HPNP classroom G-101, 5:30 p.m.

Science: Unsilenced is sponsored by the national nonpartisan program 1 for All at Middle Tennessee State, committed to building understanding of the First Amendment and its freedoms; UF’s College of Journalism and Communications; the Bob Graham Center for Public Service; UF Health; the Florida Climate Institute; and the UF Department of Geological Sciences.