Free Speech in Sport Teach-Out

In this section we will explore the impetus and implications for the debate about free speech in sport. We will begin the session with a dialogue on the National Anthem, patriotism, and sports. We will then present several conversations to illustrate the roles, interests, responsibilities, and challenges for stakeholders in sports, such as management (coaches, team owners and administrators), fans, corporate endorsers and advertisers, and athletes.

Mark Clague, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Musicology, American Culture, and African American Studies at the University of Michigan. His research on the U.S. national anthem has led to the publication of the Star Spangled Songbook (2015) and the double CD Poets and Patriots: A Tuneful History of “The Star-Spangled Banner” (2014). He was awarded one of the inaugural NEH Public Scholar fellowships to complete a book on the two-hundred- year history of the song. His anthem research has appeared in the Journal of the Society for American Music, the Choral Journal, and Chorus America’s The Voice, and has sparked collaborations with the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, and in recital with baritone Thomas Hampson at the U.S. Library of Congress. He also helped create the Star Spangled Music Foundation, founded the website starspangledmusic.org, and started an affiliated YouTube channel. Addressing a target audience of K-12 teachers and the general public, these online initiatives have received more than 350,000 visits. A specialist in American music research, Professor Clague’s other writings can be found in the Journal of the Society for American Music, American Music, Black Music Research Journal, Opera Quarterly, and books published by Oxford University Press, Rowman & Littlefield Education, and the University of California Press. He served as City & Institutions editor for the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, Second Edition and is editor-in-chief of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition and co-editor-in-chief of Music of the United States of America. He currently serves as Interim Associate Dean of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. You can read more about Dr. Clague on his faculty page and you can read his written contributions to starspangledmusic.org, osaycanyouhear.wordpress.com, and usmusicscholar.wordpress.com.

Eric Fretz, Ph.D. was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. He is an Eagle Scout, and retired from 20 years of active and reserve service as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy. His military career included 3 deployments to the Persian Gulf from Operation Desert Storm through Operation Iraqi Freedom. He closed out his career with a year-long mobilization to Baghdad, Iraq serving in the Multi-National Corps – Iraq, assigned to the Army’s 18th Airborne Corps in 2008. While in Iraq he also started a scout troop and built a camp for Iraqi youth around Victory Base. He has earned over 30 military awards including the Bronze Star Medal and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. Dr. Fretz has completed two Bachelors degrees, two Masters degrees and a dual PhD in Education and Psychology. He has teaching appointments at the University of Michigan in the Psychology Department, the School of Education, the College of Engineering, and teaches the LSA core course for the Minor in Entrepreneurship. He co-owns and manages two medical clinics. He was certified as a Navy Master Training Specialist, and leads the Ann Arbor office of MUSE Educational Consulting, LLC. He serves the community volunteering in nearly a dozen roles including: Mentor for UM Student Veterans, Washtenaw County Veteran Treatment Court as Mentor Program Director, and Founder/President of two 501c3 Veteran charities, the Editorial Board of the Journal Of Veteran Studies, and Chair of the State of Michigan’s Region 9 Veterans Community Action Team. You can read more about Dr. Fretz on his faculty page.