Freedom of Speech on Campus

"Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise our civilization will stagnate and die."
-United States Supreme Court, 1957

In almost five years of working at The University, I have developed a deeper respect and understanding towards freedom of speech on college campuses. I remember while I was in college, several individuals (Brother Micah, Richard Barrett and the infamous Anthony Hervey) would visit the campus causing controversial scenes among students. Students would congregate in front of the Student Union supporting, opposing, and even arguing with these individuals. I can remember thinking to myself, “why would the university let these people come to campus?”. The above quote from the Supreme Court sums up everything I have gradually learned about Freedom of Speech in the realm of higher education. It is important for universities to provide an outlet for the display of organizations, or people, regardless of their beliefs, their history, and their relationship with the university.

By visiting the website for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, I was able to broaden my knowledge of First Amendment rights. The article titled “P.C. Never Died: Think campus censorship disappeared in the 1990s? Guess again.” (Reason Magazine) by Greg Lukianoff was very informative and provided a recent account of incidents involving censorship on campus. Lukianoff provides several examples that fall on both sides of the fence in terms of decisions and actions taken by institutions across the country. He argues that the mainstream media has begun to accept the PC-mindset on college campuses today. For example, Lukianoff depicts the story that involved a racial slur in 1993 at the University of Pennsylvania and the media attention garnered by the situation. To contrast this situation, he also explained a situation involving a student/worker at Indiana University/Purdue University-Indianapolis. He was found reading a book that depicted “Klan-related” material on the cover that offended co-workers. This situation occurred in 2007 and did not garner any media attention for over a year and half. Was there disinterest on behalf of the media to cover this story or have universities succeeded at becoming more “PC”? I am sure there are plenty of valid arguments for either side.

Going back to what the Supreme Court stated, the institutions should provide a learning place for students to mature and understand the world they grow up in. In a way, some institions are inhibiting college students from exploring and questioning their own beliefs as well as the beliefs of others. Lukianoff says in his article that “The overwhelming majority of universities, public and private, promise incoming students and professors academic freedom and free speech. When such schools turn around and attempt to limit those students' and instructors' speech, they reveal themselves as hypocrites, susceptible not only to rightful public ridicule but also to lawsuits based on their violations of contractual promises.” Universities need to understand that the First Amendment extends to their grounds as well, and they only hinder the maturation and understanding process of students and faculty/staff by limiting their freedom of speech.

In conclusion, students should be allowed to speak, argue, debate, question and analyze topics they consider important to them. Universities are setting poor examples by punishing some individuals because of their expression. What student in their right mind would want to speak out on behalf of their beliefs if they know they will be punished afterwards? The sense of fear should not prevent students from voicing their opinions. Of course, after finishing my undergraduate work, I developed a better understanding of the purpose of having such unwelcome guests on our campus. By visiting our campus, they were fostering conversation among students at our university.

Link to magazine article: http://thefire.org/article/11456.html