COSF 175 - Winter 2009

Professor: Marjorie Heins

Title: Censorship, Culture, and American Law

An introduction to issues of censorship in American culture and law. The course will cover basic concepts of free speech and the U.S. legal system; the Hollywood Production Code, movie licensing and movie ratings; censorship of obscenity and pornography; regulation of "indecency" in broadcasting; students' free speech; government attempts to censor the Internet; controversies over public funding of the arts; and the media violence debate.

*COSF 175 can be petitioned to be included in the Law and Society minor as an upper-division elective.

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COSF 175 - Spring 2009

Professor: Marjorie Heins

Title: Political Repression and the Press: Red Scares in U.S. History and Law

This course will examine political repression in American history, with a focus on the role played by the press both as a chronicler of events and as an occasional dissenting voice and target of censorship. It will cover basic concepts of free speech and the U.S. legal system; the Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798; repression of dissent during and after World War I; the blacklists, loyalty oaths, and congressional investigations of the Cold War era; and contemporary controversies over hate speech, government surveillance, and "ideological exclusion" of foreign visitors.

*COSF 175 can be petitioned to be included in the Law and Society minor as an upper-division elective.