Date Thursday, 23rd April 2026
Time 18h00 - 19h30
Location Edmund Burke Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin
Registration

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General enquiries or difficulties please contact us : lawevent at tcd.ie.*

Free speech is indispensable in college life, because varied views and frank exchanges of opinion are a core component of the educational enterprise and the pursuit of truth. But free speech does not mean a free-for-all. The First Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits “abridging the freedom of speech,” yet laws against perjury or bribery, for example, are still constitutional. In the same way, valuing freedom of speech does not stop a university from regulating speech when doing so is necessary for its educational mission. So where is the dividing line? How can we distinguish reasonable restrictions from impermissible infringement?  In this lecture, Cass Sunstein will offer some answers to these thorny questions.  At a time when universities are assailed on free-speech grounds from both left and right, this lecture will cut through the noise and explore some of the deeper issues animating the debates.

Professor Cass  Sunstein

Professor Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University.  He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. He is a recipient of the Holberg Prize, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for the humanities and social sciences. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Professor Sunstein is the author of hundreds of books, including the international bestseller Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), The World According to Star Wars (2016), How to Become Famous (2024), and Campus Free Speech (2024).

The TriCON Verdon Lecture will be an annual lecture in the TriCON calendar.  It is named after Trinity College Dublin alumnus Craig Verdon (LLB, 1991), whose generosity has made the lecture possible.  The annual TriCON Verdon Lecture will provide a focal point for robust debate and deep reflection on the burning issues of constitutional government today.