8:15 a.m., Feb. 8, 2010----A panel discussion concerning the free-speech rights of students in public universities will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m., Monday, Feb. 15, in Room 100 Kirkbride Hall.

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The event is open to the entire University community, and students are encouraged to attend.

The panel discussion is sponsored by Provost Tom Apple, the University of Delaware chapter of the American Association of University Professors, and the Legal Studies Program and is the second of two events on academic freedom and free-speech issues scheduled Feb. 15. An earlier event open to faculty and staff will be held in the Trabant University Center.

The program will deal with the free-speech rights of students in public universities with respect to in-class speech, assignments, the right to differ from professors and from the institutional message of the university, and the right to engage in political and religious speech.

Speakers will be Ann Franke, president of Wise Results, LLC, of Washington, D.C., and a national consultant on higher education issues ranging from academic freedom to student affairs, and Lawrence White, UD vice president and general counsel.

Ann Franke

Franke consults nationally with colleges and universities on issues ranging from academic freedom to student affairs. She founded her firm, Wise Results, LLC, in 2005, after holding senior management positions with United Educators Insurance (1997-2005) and the American Association of University Professors (1982-1997).

Her consulting engagements have included reviewing policies, conducting investigations, presenting campus workshops, and improving campus governance. She has also served as an expert witness. Franke speaks often to national groups. She has published in, among other periodicals, Trusteeship, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Academe, Change, Minerva, and The Review of Litigation.

Franke is a fellow of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, a trustee of AAUP's Academic Freedom Fund, and a member of the editorial advisory board for Educator's Guide to Controlling Sexual Harassment.

She earned her bachelor's (magna cum laude), master's (linguistics), and law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and an LL.M. from Georgetown University.

Lawrence White

White was appointed UD vice president and general counsel in July, 2009. In this role he serves as chief legal counsel at the University and works on a variety of law-related and policy-making issues -- including litigation, compliance, risk management, internal audit, employment, and business and commercial transactions.

White's experience includes serving as chief counsel to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, university counsel at Georgetown University, deputy general counsel at the University of Virginia, counsel to the University System of Maryland, and associate secretary and assistant counsel of the American Association of University Professors.

A frequent speaker, lecturer, writer and consultant on higher education issues, White has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University, the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Wharton School of Business.

White is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.