Grant supports campus-wide First Amendment Day at Carolina

The McCormick Foundation is awarding the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media $5,000 to help the school raise awareness of the First Amendment and the fundamental freedoms it protects.

UNC is one of six universities selected to receive McCormick grants to conduct programs in the next academic year as part of the national “1 for All” campaign’s Liberty Tree Initiative that brings thought-provoking First Amendment programs and speakers to university campuses nationwide.

The grant will support the second annual campus-wide First Amendment Day at Carolina on Sept. 30, with programs ranging from discussion of the public universities’ special role in society’s marketplace of ideas to discussion of recent campus protests and campus speech regulations to programs on religious liberty. The programs will be sponsored by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, in cooperation with a number of academic departments and student organizations.

“1 for All” is a nonpartisan, collaborative effort of educators, artists, journalists, lawyers, librarians and others who believe that the American public will benefit from a greater understanding of the First Amendment and the need to protect all voices, views and faiths.

The Liberty Tree Initiative programs continue the tradition of constructive and collegial conversations about freedom started by America’s earliest patriots under an elm tree near the Boston Common in 1665. The “1 for All” program hopes to see a Liberty Tree like the one in Boston planted on participating campuses as a symbol of the importance of the First Amendment to an educated public. Carolina faculty, staff and students planted a Liberty Tree outside the journalism school during last year’s First Amendment Day.

“1 for All” and its campus initiative were founded in partnership with the American Society of News Editors, and with help and support from the Knight Foundation, the McCormick Foundation and the First Amendment Center. The center’s annual State of the First Amendment surveys, available at www.firstamendmentcenter.org, show a fundamental lack of public knowledge and understanding about the First Amendment.

“The Liberty Tree Initiative is a remarkable partnership that taps into the energy of the First Amendment and the insights of experts, academic leaders, artists, musicians and journalists across this country,” said Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center and Newseum, and one of the founders of “1 for All.”                       

“The interest level and quality of applications for the Liberty Tree Initiative First Amendment programs continue to rise,” said Clark Bell, the McCormick Foundation’s journalism program director. “The group of universities selected for this round of funding will bring the First Amendment to life on their campuses and in their communities.”

“Thousands of students on campuses across the country have experienced amazing First Amendment programs thanks to LTI thus far,” said Sandra Chance, campus coordinator for the program and executive director of the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. “We’re thrilled to be able to fund these new programs and continue to support innovative and exciting First Amendment education for the leaders of tomorrow.”