Michigan Center for Civic Education Launches Civility and Free Expression Dialogue

The Michigan Center for Civic Education announces the start of a new statewide educational project on civility and free expression. This statewide education project is being conducted in association with Civility and Free Expression in a Constitutional Democracy—A National Dialogue, a nationwide initiative of the American Bar Association Division for Public Education (ABA). The initiative is being funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

The Michigan Center for Civic Education is partnering with Cooley Law School, Michigan Government Television, the Michigan Supreme Court Learning Center, and the State Bar of Michigan.

In addition to Michigan, other states participating in the national dialogue are: Center for Education in Law and Democracy, Denver, Colorado; Florida Law-Related Education Association, Tallahassee and Tampa, Florida; Missouri Bar Association, Jefferson City, Missouri; New Jersey Law and Education Empowerment Project, Newark and Trenton, New Jersey; North Carolina Civic Education Consortium, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Classroom Law Project, Portland, Oregon; Tennessee Bar Association, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville, Tennessee; and Vermont Bar Association, Montpelier, Vermont. Public programs will include town hall meetings, forums, or panel discussions.

“The NEH applauds the ABA for bringing together diverse voices of legal scholars, educators, civic leaders, and experts in political and cultural history on this critical subject,” said National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Jim Leach. “These public programs promise to raise compelling questions about the tensions between civility and free speech, the state of our public square, and the challenges to maintaining civic discourse in cyberspace.”

“We are honored that NEH has chosen to award us this grant, providing us with a tremendous opportunity to engage the American public in a robust discussion about issues that matter in our daily lives,” said Mabel McKinney-Browning, director of the project and the ABA’s Division for Public Education. “We are especially pleased to collaborate with a wide-ranging group of organizations that reach diverse audiences around the country as we seek to gain perspective on the issue of civility and free expression.”

For more information on Civility and Free Expression in a Constitutional Democracy—A National Dialogue, visit www.ambar.org/civility.

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