The evolving nature of speech protection under the First Amendment will be explored by law school faculty from across the country during a symposium to be held Friday, Feb. 16, at the UC Davis law school. Titled "Developments in Free Speech Doctrine: Charting the Nexus Between Speech and Religion, Abortion and Equality," the daylong program provides a chance for legal scholars to examine the significant changes in how courts have interpreted freedom of speech as a result of perceived tensions between rights of expression and other constitutionally recognized interests. "Free speech doctrine doesn't evolve abstractly," says Alan Brownstein, a UC Davis law school professor who is chairing the symposium. For example, he notes, "in the 1950s, First Amendment claims were filed in response to McCarthyism, and in the 1960s, the civil rights movement raised new issues for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide." Speakers at the symposium include law faculty from UC Davis, Harvard, UC Berkeley, Northwestern and Stanford. The symposium is jointly sponsored by the law school and the UC Davis Law Review, a student law journal.