The University of West Florida's College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities invites you to join us for the 2025 Seligman First Amendment Lecture, featuring renowned scholar Robert Spoo. This year’s lecture, titled "Book Censorship: Then and Now," will explore the enduring challenges of censorship and its implications for intellectual freedom, past and present.

The event will take place on Thursday, February 20, at the Museum of Commerce in downtown Pensacola.

• 5:30 p.m. - Public Reception
• 6 p.m. - Lecture
• Q&A Following Lecture
• Admission: Free and open to the public

Professor Spoo, the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Professor in Irish Letters at Princeton University, will draw on his expertise in intellectual property law, the history of censorship, and modernist literature to examine the parallels between contemporary book bans and the censorship controversies of the early 20th century.

A leading voice in the law-and-literature field, Spoo has published extensively on copyright, fair use, and the public domain. His insights have shaped academic discourse and empowered writers, scholars, and artists to navigate challenges to free expression. His landmark publications include "Without Copyrights: Piracy, Publishing, and the Public Domain" and "Modernism and the Law."

As book censorship continues to make headlines, this year’s lecture offers timely and thought-provoking insights. Join us for an evening of intellectual exploration and community dialogue.