“You Can’t Ban Facts”
First Amendment Days is a weeklong celebration of our First Amendment freedoms – religion, speech, press, assembly, petition. A diverse assortment of speakers, events and activities are offered on campus every spring as a creative way to engage students and the entire Iowa State community to better understand the power of free expression. First Amendment Days is also designed to provide opportunities to exercise our five freedoms.
Now in its 23rd year, First Amendment Days is the longest-running continual student-led First Amendment celebration at any university in the U.S. The celebration is organized by the First Amendment Committee, which is made up of members of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and the Iowa State Daily Media Group.
Schedule of events
Tuesday, April 15, “The Art of Science – A Conversation with Artist Jill Pelto,” Ames Public Library (online only via Zoom), 6 p.m.
Join artist and science communicator Jill Pelto for a virtual presentation. Pelto’s paintings incorporate real graphs about environmental change—from local to global—to share the underlying narratives behind data through color, pattern and perspective. ONLINE ONLY. A Zoom link will be posted on the library event page before the event. The presentation will also be played live on a screen in the Danfoss Room. Presented in partnership with Ames Public Library and Iowa State University Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. Supported by the Ames Public Library Friends Foundation.
Tuesday, April 15, “100 Years Since the Scopes Monkey Trial: Evolution, Education, and Establishment,” Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, 6 p.m., Great Hall, Memorial Union, Iowa State University
The Scopes “monkey trial” of 1925 was the first controversy over the teaching of evolution in the public schools to reach a courtroom. It was not the last, although in the following century, tactics have shifted and battlefields have expanded. In his talk, Glenn Branch of the National Center for Science Education will describe the contentious legal history of evolution education from the Scopes era to the present day, with a focus on the legal system’s evolving understanding of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
Glenn Branch is deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, a nonprofit organization that defends the integrity of American science education against ideological interference. He is the author of numerous articles on evolution education and climate education, and the co-editor, with Eugenie C. Scott, of Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools (2006). He received the Evolution Education Award for 2020 from the National Association of Biology Teachers.
Thursday, April 17, Feast on the First, Central Campus, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Feast on the First continues its presence on Central Campus, mixing food and frivolity in celebration of the First Amendment. Free First Amendment Day t-shirts, buttons designed by late Ames resident Richard Deyo and food will be available. Food will be prepared by student group Block & Bridle.