Courtesy of The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

Ronnie London will speak at the forum on Wednesday, Sept. 26.

Free speech will be the topic of an upcoming forum on campus Wednesday, Sept. 27.

The forum, “Navigating Free Speech at a Public University,” will take place in the Francis Booth Experimental Theatre of the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center. 

The event will begin at 7 p.m.

The forum will feature Ronnie London, a general counsel first amendment lawyer with The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. London obtained his Bachelor of Science in advertising from The University of Florida and his Doctorate of Law from Georgetown Law Center.

London has 25 years of practice in first amendment law, according to the foundation’s website.

“His experience includes litigating cases involving constitutional and statutory protections for online intermediaries, police action against protestors and professional photographers, licensing and permitting of filming on federal lands, regulation of “indecent” broadcasts and adult content, and restrictions on commercial speech, as well as numerous Freedom of Information Act cases,” his biography on the foundation’s website reads. 

The event is sponsored by the Drinko Academy and the Simon Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy.

“Issues pertaining to speech on campus have been prevalent at Marshall in recent years,” said Dr. Patricia Proctor, founding director of the Simon Perry Center. “Students wonder about outside groups coming to campus and engaging in upsetting speech; they wonder why this happens and what can be done in response to these speakers. They wonder about their own rights to protest.”

“The university’s administration made it a priority to address those concerns, among other things, convening a task force on the issue, which made recommendations, including recommending that this First Amendment Forum be held,” she said.