Students and teachers have another resource to answer their questions on censorship, social media, libel, privacy, copyright and other First Amendment issues.
The Michigan State University College of Law has launched the McLellan Free Speech Online Library, an interactive website designed to help teenagers and young adults get answers about free speech, self-expression and press rights issues.
The site, known simply as “The McLellan” is run by the law college’s First Amendment Law Clinic and is funded by a $500,000 gift from Richard McLellan, a Michigan attorney and MSU alumnus who has been involved in public affairs work and Republican Party politics since he was a member of the MSU College Republicans in 1960.
“Students can participate in free expression now more than they have ever been able to in human history, because of social media,” Nancy Costello, director of First Amendment Law Clinic, told Michigan Radio’s “Stateside” in a recent interview. “And consequently, their free speech rights are really at stake more.”
The site is built around a series of Q&A’s drawn from nearly 200 legal research topics MSU law students have explored in response to questions from journalism students and their advisers over the last eight years. Visitors to the site also can send additional questions. The site is staff by MSU law students, who may be able to quickly answer those questions based on previous research or do new research to explore the topic.
The McLellan is designed to supplement other resources, such as the Student Press Law Center, which provides free speech and free press resources to student journalists and their advisers.
MSU’s First Amendment Clinic has trained 8,000 high school students in First Amendment Workshops since 2011. It has improved transparency at school board meetings, defended students facing punishment from school administrators for social media speech and protected student journalists facing censure for publishing information high school coaches believed would put their athletic program in a bad light.
The McLellan website can be found at https://mclellanlib.com.