MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University has launched a new online,
searchable encyclopedia about the First
Amendment with the university’s John
Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies.
The First Amendment Encyclopedia, which is free to access at http://mtsu.edu/first-amendment, contains more than 1,500 essays and articles about court decisions
and doctrines; people, law and events; and general issues and organizations
significant in the First Amendment’s history in the United States.
MTSU
marked the online launch with a special event Monday, Sept. 18, in the Bragg
Media and Entertainment Building.
“Given our increasingly polarized society, it’s important
to remember what should unite us: respect for freedom of speech, press,
religion, and the right to assemble and petition,” said Ken Paulson, dean of the College
of Media and Entertainment at MTSU, which houses the Seigenthaler Chair of
Excellence.
“These
five freedoms of the First Amendment are truly what make America special, and
this new online resource is designed to give students and the public insight
into these core liberties.
“John was an
outstanding journalist and founder of the First Amendment Center who spent his
entire professional life working to build understanding and support for the
First Amendment through education and information. This new online encyclopedia
continues his work.”
Deborah Fisher, director of the
Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence, said no other reference work devotes such
exhaustive attention to First Amendment freedoms.
“This
is a living, breathing project that will continue to grow in a way that
promotes awareness and understanding of the First Amendment and its role in
American history,” Fisher said.
The
foundation of the online encyclopedia is the two-volume “Encyclopedia of the First
Amendment” published
in 2009 by CQ Press, an imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. The printed
encyclopedia contained more than 1,400 essays written by more than 200 contributors.
Two
of the three original editors of the volumes — John Vile and David L.
Hudson Jr. —spent the past several months reviewing and updating entries
and adding new ones.
Vile
is a professor of political science and dean of the University Honors College at MTSU, and Hudson is a former scholar
at the First Amendment Center in Nashville who now teaches at the Nashville
School of Law and Vanderbilt Law School. David
Schultz, a professor in the School of
Business at Hamline University and a senior fellow and professor at the Institute
of Law and Politics at the University of Minnesota School of Law, served as the
third original editor.
“I hope this new rollout will lead to a wider
dissemination of the information that was confined originally to the two
volumes,” said Vile. “I am a political scientist, and the First Amendment
interests me because it fulfills two complementary functions: first, it enables
and supports a number of personal freedoms … and secondly, it embodies freedoms
which … are also essential to the perpetuation of democratic republican
government.”
Both
Fisher and Paulson acknowledged MTSU students in the College of Media and
Entertainment — Olivia Anchondo, Troy Dixon,
Zachary Frazier
and Taylor Sturm — for their work on the content development of the new encyclopedia website.
Each
encyclopedia article contains cross-referenced links to related articles, as
well as outside references for further reading on the topic. A user can search
the encyclopedia by any topic or name, browse two tables of contents organized
by case category and topic category, or browse an alphabetical listing of all
articles.
A
chronological timeline on the development and history of the First Amendment
contains links to articles with more information.
The
encyclopedia also contains overview essays, including one written by John Seigenthaler
when the encyclopedia was originally published.
Seigenthaler, who died in July 2014, was a longtime champion of First
Amendment rights and was a reporter, editor, publisher, CEO and chairman emeritus of The
Tennessean as well as an administrative assistant for then-U.S. Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy. After serving as founding editorial director for USA Today, he
established the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt
University in 1991.
The
encyclopedia is one of the programs of the Seigenthaler Chair
of Excellence, which MTSU established in 1986 to honor Seigenthaler's
lifelong commitment to free expression.
The
Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence also supports First Amendment programs and
lectures, including a Pulitzer Prize speakers series; sponsors hands-on
journalism experiential programs for students; and houses “1 for All,” which
provides teaching materials on the First Amendment.
For
more information about the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies at
MTSU, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/seigenthaler.
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