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"We want to have a robust dialogue about these issues," said Megan Knize, law review editor in chief. "We're hoping [the speakers] will have some new ways of analyzing these issues."

One of the 10 speakers representing law schools across America is Dean Kenneth W. Starr of Pepperdine Law School. In 2007 Starr successfully argued the U.S. Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick, which found that administrators may punish student speech that advocates the use of illegal drugs.

"Earlier decisions seem to give students more rights ... but later decisions seem to clamp down more heavily on what students can say in a school setting," Knize said.

The First Amendment topic was chosen after a group of law students solicited law school faculty for proposals, she said.

"Faculty are very interested in this topic. It seems to me that this is an area of law that's pretty muddled," she said. "The doctrines are not very clear."

Knize said she hopes administrators and others who deal with this issue will leave the symposium with clear answers on how to address situations they face daily.

Landmark Supreme Court decisions that have affected students' First Amendment rights in public schools include Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District in 1969 and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier in 1988.

In Tinker, the Supreme Court ruled that in order to censor student speech, administrators must prove the speech would create a "substantial disruption" of normal school activities or would invade the rights of others. But in Hazelwood, the Court said school officials generally may censor items in school-sponsored outlets if they can present a reasonable educational justification for doing so and if they have not traditionally allowed students to make final content decisions.

A list of speakers and a schedule for the symposium can be found at http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/symposia/2008/home.php?page=index&group=symposia.