About

Education

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania (2011)
J.D., Harvard Law School (2008)

Biography

Franciska Coleman is an Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, the Associate Director of the East Asian Legal Studies Center, and the Chair-Elect of the AALS Section on Constitutional Law. She is an interdisciplinary scholar, whose work draws upon political theory, critical discourse analysis, and First Amendment Law.  Professor Coleman is deeply interested in defining multiracial, multiclass democracy and in exploring the changes to our constitutional framework that would be needed to facilitate the U.S.’s transition from a somewhat dysfunctional liberal democracy into a well-functioning multiracial, multiclass democracy. Her current research projects focus on 1) how the race-class marginalized use informal power, such as social speech regulation, to shape the narratives that underlie the political agenda,  2) how the narratives of the race-class marginalized themselves are impacted by social speech regulation and 3) the extent to which the race-class marginalized are willing and able to use formal political power to directly influence the choice among the options that make it to the  political agenda.

Professor Coleman’s scholarship has appeared in the Journal of Free Speech Law, the First Amendment Law Review, the Boston University Law Review, and the American University Law Review Forum among others.  In addition, as a public educator, Professor Coleman regularly presents her work on social speech regulation (aka “cancel culture”)  to state bar associations, high school students, community groups and on local news stations.

Professor Coleman previously taught American Constitutional Law I and II at Yonsei Law School in Seoul, South Korea. During that time, she worked closely with the Korean government on several initiatives, such as international roundtables on offensive speech held by the Korean Communication Standards Commission and efforts by the Korean Legislation Research Institute to make Korean statutes more accessible to foreign communities.

Prior to her time in Korea, Professor Coleman worked as an associate in the litigation and appellate practice groups at Covington & Burling in Washington, DC. She received her JD from Harvard Law School and her PhD in Literacy, Culture and International Education from the University of Pennsylvania. While studying at these institutions, she was awarded the AAUW Selected Professions Fellowship and the Fontaine Fellowship.