UVM President Emeritus Thomas Sullivan, J.D., presents First Amendment Speech Challenges for Libraries and Society Under the New Administration in Washington: Why Books and Expressive Thought Can’t Be Banned, as guest lecturer for the Vermont Library Association’s (VLA) 2025 John Swan Intellectual Freedom Lecture series.
“Libraries in the past few years have been increasingly faced with demands to censor their collections and ban books,” said Randal Smathers, chair of VLA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. “With the new administration in Washington looking favorably on such efforts, join us to to discuss what this mean for libraries, librarians, readers, and intellectually curious members of the general public over the near future.”
The lecture will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, in the Main Reading Room of Fletcher Free Library, 235 College Street, in Burlington. It is free and open to all.
“Dr. Sullivan’s long and notable career includes federal criminal law, constitutional law, federal courts and civil procedure, and constitutional history, all of which make him uniquely qualified to discuss potential challenges facing libraries in today’s challenging climate,” Smathers said. Sullivan served as the 26th President of the University of Vermont from July 2012 until June 2019. He continues to hold a tenured appointment as Professor of Political Science. He holds an honorary Doctor of Law Degree from the Vermont Law School, is a Life Member of American Law Institute and American Bar Foundation, and has served as:
- President of the American Bar Foundation Board of Directors
- Consultant, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on judicial nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court of Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan
- Chair, Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics for the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Member, American Bar Association’s President’s Commission on the Future of the Profession
For more information about the March 6 lecture, contact Randal Smathers at randal@rutlandfree.org or 802-683-9778.