NYSSBA General Counsel Worona to review First Amendment and Higher Education at Ohav

JAY WORONA

ALBANY– Jay Worona, deputy executive director and general counsel for the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA), will present, “First Amendment and Higher Education: Responsibilities and Limitations” on Friday, Feb. 16, at Ohav Shalom Synagogue. 113 New Krumkill Rd., Albany. The program begins with Kabbalat Shabbat at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7 and then Worona’s presentation at 8 p.m. The dinner program is open to the community.

According to organizers, the presentation and discussion will focus on how colleges and universities balance freedom of speech under the First Amendment with protecting the safety and welfare of students who may feel threatened on campuses of higher learning; the role of institutions of higher education to help students discern fact from fiction; whether or not free speech is unlimited; whether or not there are or should be limitations on faculty members’ rhetoric both personally and professionally.

Worona, who is a long-time Ohav Shalom congregant, represents NYSSBA and its approximately 750-member school districts in both direct and friend-of-the court litigation on legal topics related to New York’s public schools. In 1994, Worona successfully argued and won a case involving the separation of church and state before the United States Supreme Court entitled Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet. Worona has been a Fellow of the New York State Bar Association. He is a member of the National Association of Parliamentarians, and also serves as an adjunct professor at the School of Educational Administration and Policy Studies at the State University of New York at Albany. In 2003 and again in 2014, he received the Excellence in Part-Time Teaching Award for his service. He lectures at conferences throughout the nation on a range of legal topics regarding public education.

Registration may be obtained online at https://www.ohavshalom.org/get-involved/events/ and is due by Feb. 9. The cost for this event is $18 per person and includes dinner.