UH Mānoa law students clarify First Amendment

Business Law learns all about freedom of speech

Photo by Kimani Fernandez-Roy

Luʻukia Nakanelua and Mark Suzuki of William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa give a presentation on the First Amendment Friday in Business Law class. The timing coincided with Free Speech Week.

University students Luʻukia Nakanelua and Mark Suzuki of William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa came to discuss the First Amendment with Mr. Kealiʻi Mossman’s Business Law class Friday.

The timing was good. Since the end of September, students have been discussing the topic of Colin Kaepernick, kneeling during the national anthem and sitting during Hawaiʻi Pōnoʻi. This was also the Friday of Free Speech Week.

Freedom of speech and the press, both of which fall under the First Amendment, were the two main topics discussed by Nakanelua and Suzuki.

Nakanelua, a Kamehameha Schools Maui alumna (’09), and Suzuki provided the students with a hefty amount of information about the First Amendment, which Mr. Mossman’s business students had already been studying. Their understanding was visible.

“Wow, Iʻm impressed” Suzuki said.

Although the students were well prepared, there was a sizable amount of information that they hadn’t known about.

They discussed the legalities of being allowed to burn a country’s flag and Nazis being able to protest the United States in a public area. The students asked many questions along the lines of, “Is this covered the by the First Amendment?”

Business Law students were engaged throughout the presentation as they discussed the different topics.
Photo by Kimani Fernandez-Roy
Business Law students were engaged throughout the presentation as they discussed the different topics.

In-between the discussions, students interacted in small groups. At the end, they asked any more questions they had on the First Amendment, political issues or college in general.

For instance, senior James Kahoʻokele III asked, “When the whole issue with the Clinton emails came out did you guys look at that?”

Students were shocked to find out that some of the emails leaked online came from the hacking of one of Suzuki’s friend’s email account. His friend works for Hillary Clinton.

The presentation got the students thinking and left them with an bundle of questions that they will now have to answer themselves as they continue to increase their knowledge on the different restrictions and conditions of the First Amendment.