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Speech Codes On College Campuses Essay, Research Paper

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for the redress of grievances.” This is the First amendment, possibly the most powerful words in American history because it guarantees American citizens their natural rights, under the supreme law of the land. Our First amendment gives us the freedom of religion, peaceful assembly, speech and press. With this simple amendment, “people can speak their innermost thoughts without fear or shame” (Hemmer 2). But, what if this glorious right causes other people fear or shame? The Constitution limits how public universities and colleges may punish students for what they say (Burns et. al. 75). As a liberal and a political science major, I believe fully in our constitutional rights. I believe “free speech is essential in the search for truth” (Hemmer 2). Although after reading Nat Hentoff’s essay “Speech Codes on the Campus and the Problems of Free Speech,” I have begun to wonder, like so many others, is “censorship is okay provided your motives are okay” (Hirschberg 283). Without speech codes on college campuses, minorities, women, and gays have been at the receiving end of constant harassment. Before making the judgement of whether or not there should not be speech codes on college campuses, I need to ask a couple questions.

Why is free speech so important on college campuses? Free speech is so important because universities thrive on a constant discourse of opposing ideas. I, like many other college students, have learned more from my fellow students than I have from any of my instructors. Our society and, in particular, higher education has flourished because free speech “produces an atmosphere where new ideas constantly challenge older ones” (Hemmer 2). The uniqueness of universities is that they provide an ocean of ideas, synchronized and conflicting. “Free speech is not simply the personal right of individuals to have their say; it is also the right of the rest of us to hear them,” and respond to them (Burns et al. 72). As a student, a citizen, and a woman, it is my right to share ideas. I want the right to become educated with the help of other people’s ideas, but I won’t use my right to free speech to intentionally harm anyone else. Unfortunately, not everyone else thinks this way. Some students take advantage of their First Amendment right and use it to harm others. These students are the reason why the Supreme Court and many university boards across the nation are debating speech codes.

Speech codes arose in the late 1980’s when most campuses around the country had already been diversified. Students found themselves sharing classes, dorms and activities with many people who differed from them in race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic class and ethnicity. Unfortunately, this diversity also produced incidents where students and faculty expressed personal prejudices openly. As soon as cases of verbal harassment started making their way into the courts and onto newspaper pages, college administrators started to devise ways to put a stop to the controversy. A simple solution was speech codes, but are they Constitutional (Golding 5)?

In the end, the solution was not that simple. Since the main principle of the First Amendment applies directly to public institutions, it has been hard for many universities to pass speech codes and still remain constitutional (Golding 3). Since the only speech that is not protected by the Constitution is obscene speech and terrorist attacks, college administrators came up with three basic models of codes: the emotional distress theory, the nondiscrimination/harassment option and the “fighting words” approach. The University of Texas at Austin made racial harassment punishable by suspension or expulsion. They defined racial harassment as “extreme or outrageous acts or communications that are intended to harass, intimidate or humiliate a student on account of race, color or national origin that unreasonably cause them to suffer severe emotional stress” (Golding 2). The University of Massachusetts instated another code that is more commonly used. This code makes any form of verbal or physical harassment punishable. A group or individual violates the code if they “?Kdiscriminatorily alters the conditions for participation in the activities of the university, on the basis of race, color, and national or ethnic origin” (Golding 2). The “fighting words” approach has been used at many universities, but the first was the University of California. Fighting words are “?Kpersonally abusive epithets inherently likely to provoke a violent reaction.” Creating a “hostile or intimidating educational environment” also constitutes harassment (Golding 2). This approach, when used to protect a specific individual, is usually the best choice. It has been noted and used by the government to try and “?Kpunish certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of peace”(Burns 83). Even with these codes in place on many campuses around the nation and with the many supporters of speech codes, they have many more opponents.

The Supreme Court has consistently ruled against speech codes. In the United States v. Eichman, Justice Brennan of the Supreme Court said, “If there is a bedrock principal underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable.”?x This case did not directly refer to free speech but it does lay down exactly how the Supreme Court views freedom of

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