Responding to hate speech is difficult because its definition remains unclear. However, the reiterated theme throughout the University of Delaware's conference on free speech was the importance of positive communication. The title of the first session was "Are more laws necessary for responding to hate speech?" The guest speakers were Nadine Strossen, the Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law at New York Law School and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and john a. powell, director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society and a professor of law and ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

UD's Communication Department hosted "Speech Limits in Public Life: At the Intersection of Free Speech and Hate" on March 14 to 15, 2019. Legal experts and free speech scholars from around the country discussed how to define hate speech and respond to it both digitally and on college campuses. Read more about the conference at https://www.cpc.udel.edu/news/Pages/the-speech-divide.aspx.