FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr., professor of law at Washington & Lee University School of Law and visiting John S. Stone chair in law at the University of Alabama School of Law, will present “The Perils and the Promise of Comparative Constitutional Law: A Comparative Perspective on Freedom of Speech” at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 17, in the E.J. Ball Courtroom at the University of Arkansas Leflar Law Center. 

The lecture is part of the Hartman Hotz Lectures in Law and Liberal Arts and is free and open to the public. Copies of Professor Krotoszynski’s book, The First Amendment in Cross-Cultural Perspective, will be available for purchase at the lecture.

Krotoszynski, a prominent free speech expert, will discuss the new globalism and the shrinking distances that separate nations and cultures. He will also present his opinions about what role the United States should play in the norm creation of free speech on a global level. 

“Domestic legal rules and approaches to common legal problems will increasingly reflect the new globalism,” Krotoszynski said. “The question is not whether transnational legal rules will develop but how they will develop and what role the United States will play in their development.”

He said that in thinking about the reality and effects of the new globalism, individuals should be proactive and thoughtful, rather than reactive and reflexive.

“At the end of the day, we will participate in the new globalism whether we choose to be active participants in the process or passive recipients of the results of the process,” Krotoszynski said. “If we want to affect the content of emerging human rights norms, we need to join the conversation, even if we do so as defenders or exporters of U.S. legal norms.”

Krotoszynski is a nationally recognized expert in the fields of administrative law, constitutional law and comparative public law. He has published books on the First Amendment and administrative law, and his work has appeared in Yale Law Journal, Michigan Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Texas Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal and Minnesota Law Review, among others.

School of Law Dean Cynthia Nance said Krotoszynski’s visit is valuable to the university community because of the increasing importance of international implications to domestic free speech issues.

“Internationalism and free speech are both critically important domains that have received widespread attention. But putting them together, in the context of what we as Americans ought to be doing to ensure our concerns are heard at a global level, is nothing short of exciting,” Nance said.

The University of Arkansas Hartman Hotz Lectures in Law and Liberal Arts were established by Dr. and Mrs. Palmer Hotz of Foster City, Calif., to honor the memory of his brother, Hartman Hotz.

Hartman Hotz graduated from the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in history. After graduating from Yale University Law School, he joined the faculty of the University of Arkansas School of Law, where he made significant contributions to the study of law. The presentation series is sponsored by the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Law.