Penn State's College of Communications and The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center is co-sponsoring a "First Amendment Festival" today at the HUB Auditorium.

"We are here to remind others about First Amendment freedoms that many Americans take for granted," said Gene Policinski, deputy director of the First Amendment Center.

The daylong festival begins at 9:45 a.m. and will feature distinguished experts on First Amendment rights who will discuss topics regarding free expression on campus, Napster and the Internet.

"We want to reach students across University Park campus to inform and educate them about current First Amendment issues," said Clay Calvert, co-director of the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment and assistant professor of communications and law.

"First Amendment rights are crucial in a democratic society. A great number of students are affected by First Amendment issues everyday," Calvert said.

Penn State has recently come across many confrontations of the First Amendment rights including the arrests this summer and the protests of the National Governors' Association, Calvert said.

The university's $50 mandatory student activity fee will also be an issue discussed.

The issue has been in the limelight previously with a case involving students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in which Scott Southworth claimed the activity fee was unconstitutional. He based his claim on the idea that it violated the right to free speech, by requiring students to pay mandatory student activity fees. The Supreme Court decided in March that it was constitutional.

A highlight of today's events is author, journalist and columnist, Tom Wicker's keynote address, "A Passion for the First." In 1960, Wicker worked in Washington, D.C. for The New York Times covering the White House, Congress and other national politics. He was in Dallas when President Kennedy was killed and covered his assassination.

Other panelists that will speak today include Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va.; Michael Gartner, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and ombudsman for Brill's Content magazine; John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center and Kenneth Paulson, executive director of the Center.

"Radio Free Penn State," the WKPS student public affairs show will be broadcasting panel talks live for students unable to attend the event. The show will be air from 5 to 8 p.m. from Alumni Hall, featuring students, faculty and borough resident panelists speaking on local freedom issues.

"The depth of freedom of expression in America seems to run in cycles," said Douglas Anderson, dean of the College of Communications in a press release. "Freedom of expression blossomed under the Earl Warren Court in the 1960's, but many would argue that there since has been erosion of that freedom. The presence of Tom Wicker and a group of terrific panel members promises to make the First Amendment Festival the perfect venue to discuss this precious freedom."

Penn State is the second university, after University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to be selected as a site for the First Amendment Festival.