A Trusted Source

Visits to the MTSU Free Speech Center website make up the largest percentage of web visitors MTSU receives on an annual

by Drew Ruble

“Experts say attacks on free speech are rising across the US”

That was the headline of an Associated Press article centered around new threats to free speech in America.

The AP reached out to Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at MTSU, for expert commentary for the article.

Paulson, a founding editor of USA Today and former dean of the MTSU College of Media and Entertainment, told the AP that many states in recent years have reverted to the anti-speech tactics employed by people like Sen. Joe McCarthy during the “Red Scare” of the early 1950s.

“We are seeing a concerted wave that we have not seen in decades,” Paulson said, adding that the very best protections against censorship are awareness, insight, and a nationwide commitment to freedom of expression.

That’s precisely what the Free Speech Center at MTSU is all about: Through its educational website, timely editorials, and expert status, the center is providing much-needed awareness, insights, and support for our precious freedoms of speech.

Weaving a Web

The MTSU center’s one-of-a-kind First Amendment Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive First Amendment resource available to the public. Along with its news website—a joint project of the center and its on-campus partner, MTSU’s John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies—the center has become the go-to source for online information about free speech. There is really nothing else like it on the web.

Annual visits to the MTSU Free Speech Center website and First Amendment Encyclopedia soared by 1.1 million in the 2022–23 fiscal year to a new high of more than 5 million users. That constitutes the largest percentage of the total web visitors MTSU receives on an annual basis!

National Reach

It’s not just the Associated Press taking notice of MTSU’s leadership on free speech topics—hundreds of similar published articles annually cite the center.

This map demonstrates how MTSU (through the Free Speech Center) is spreading the word to millions of Americans about the need to protect the First Amendment and our most fundamental freedoms.

Clearly, the Free Speech Center is routinely treated as an authority by highly respected and neutral news sources on a topic of growing concern in our nation.

The center is successfully filling that role while operating as a nonpartisan and nonprofit institution simply conveying the urgency of the work it does without stepping into politics or alarmism.

SUPPORT THE CENTER . . . SUPPORT FREE SPEECH!

The Free Speech Center is dependent upon financial support from those who share our belief that education about our most fundamental freedoms is critical to American democracy. Independent funding allows the center to develop classroom programs, teaching guides, educational videos, and grade-specific books. It also allows the center to maintain and expand its First Amendment Encyclopedia and daily First Amendment reports.

• To support the work of the Free Speech Center, please click on the Donate button at the Free Speech Center website: mtsu.edu/first-amendment

• Visit mtsu.edu/first-amendment for more information and to support the center’s mission.

• Drop us a message at freespeechcenter@mtsu.edu.