Prof. Brandeis skypes to Pacific Lutheran University students about constitutional rights

Prof. Jason Brandeis, Justice faculty, was invited to lecture on free speech and the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case via Skype to a Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) class on Tuesday, April 26. The class was "Civil Rights and Civil Liberties," an upper division course taught by Dr. Kaitlyn Sill. Keli Booher, a former UAA student who is now at PLU and in the class, knew that Prof. Brandeis had been one of the attorneys who represented Joseph Frederick in Morse v. Frederick, a student free speech case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007. Frederick was a student at Juneau-Douglas High School in Juneau.

PLU students participated in Skype lecture by Prof. Brandeis

When her class started to discuss "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" and the constitutional issues involved, Keli called Prof. Brandeis and asked if he would speak to them. Having done a Skype lecture before, Prof. Brandeis knew it would be easy to arrange. During the lecture students were very engaged in the interaction and asked a number of questions about this pivotal free expression case which concerns the rights of students in schools.

Prof. Brandeis also did a Skype lecture last semester. He was invited in November 2010 to lecture via Skype to a high school in Brooklyn on Morse v. Frederick and students rights issues. He hopes to continue this kind of technology outreach to high school and college students about constitutional and other legal issues.