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Why Freedom of Expression Matters in Higher Education
Freedom of speech and limits on rights
Freedom of speech and limits on rights
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As more colleges are silencing opinions their students believe are offensive, some are arguing they are becoming too restrictive to free speech. On one side, some think students need to feel secure in their classroom, away from any comments that may trigger anxiety attacks or cause them real, psychological harm. Others believe because college is an academic setting, where students are supposed to be exposed to new information and ideas, limiting speech in any form takes away from the students’ education. While college should be a place where students can be challenged and exposed to new opinions, no student should feel unsafe or threatened in their classroom. By placing only necessary and small limitations on free speech, college classrooms can remain an open and challenging environment, without inflicting harm on any students. …show more content…
Universities, as academic institutions, should remain an open forum for discussion with the only limitations to free speech being any comments that infringe on others’ education. Students cannot be expected to learn in environments where they feel personally threatened, or as if the core of who they are is under attack. The only limitations of free speech should be hate speech, slurs, and comments that attack any identities. With an academic environment based solely on respect, students could still openly share their beliefs as long as done in a respectful manner. While this does set some limitations to free speech, it still allows enough freedom to discuss the difficult, and pressing issues that do need to debated, and give students the opportunity to be opened up to new ideas they may have never
Throughout America, people place a high value in their freedom of speech. This right is protected by the first Amendment and practiced in communities throughout the country. However, a movement has recently gained momentum on college campuses calling for protection from words and ideas that may cause emotional discomfort. This movement is driven mainly by students who demand that speech be strictly monitored and punishments inflicted on individuals who cause even accidental offense. Greg Lukianoff and Johnathan Haidt discuss how this new trend affects the students mentally and socially in their article The Coddling of the American Mind published in The Atlantic Monthly. Lukianoff and Haidt mostly use logical reasoning and references to
College is full of new experiences, new people, and new communities, and many universities encourage the exchange of new ideas and diversity among students. This year, the University of Chicago sent out a letter to all of its incoming freshmen informing them that in keeping with their beliefs of freedom of expression and healthy discussion and debate, the school would not provide “safe spaces” or “trigger warnings”. Senior Sophie Downes found this letter to be misleading in many ways, including in the definitions of safe spaces and trigger warnings, as well as the issues it was addressing. Downes claims that the letter was misrepresenting the school, but also was using the letter as a sort
In her op-ed, "In College and Hiding From Scary Ideas", Shulevitz discusses the idea behind freedom of speech on college campuses and how safe spaces are snuffing it out. Shulevitz uses multiple examples of problems that have arisen because of safe spaces at universities such as Brown University, Columbia University, and Oxford 's University 's Christ Church college. Debate cancellations, essay opinions that caused protest, and other situations involving freedom of speech that Shulevitz uses to back up her opinion that safe spaces are nothing but harm to college campuses. According to Shulevitz Op-ed, safe spaces are nothing but an incubator that grows a festering amount of weak individuals who are destroying their social skills and developing
Grabber: Do we still have the freedom speech or has the internet changed the meaning of free speech?
According to The Coddling of the American Mind, trigger warnings and microaggressions confine professors’ and well-educated adults’ unalienable right of speech; furthermore, they can impact one’s health. Protecting rights have a unison consensus; the authors unite them and the audience together to persuade the well-educated adults to protest the use of trigger warnings and microaggressions. While concluding that vindictive protectiveness is the reason for trigger warnings and microaggressions Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt state, “A campus culture devoted to policing speech and punishing speakers is likely to engender patterns of thought that are surprisingly similar to those long identified by cognitive behavioral therapists as causes of depression and anxiety.” (45) The word “policing” holds a negative connotation implying regulation, and no one wants their first amendment right of free speech stolen from them. Also the idea that trigger warnings and microaggressions may lead to depression and anxiety gives more logical reasoning to end trigger warnings and microaggressions in higher level education. When the authors specify the change that colleges should make, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt write their idea of the purpose of college, “Rather than
Wheeler, David R. "Do Students Still Have Free Speech in School?" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 07 Apr. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” Indeed, free speech is a large block upon which this nation was first constructed, and remains a hard staple of America today; and in few places is that freedom more often utilized than on a college campus. However, there are limitations to our constitutional liberties on campus and they, most frequently, manifest themselves in the form of free speech zones, hate speech and poor university policy. Most school codes are designed to protect students, protect educators and to promote a stable, non-disruptive and non-threatening learning environment. However, students’ verbal freedom becomes limited via “free speech zones.” Free Speech Zones are areas allocated for the purpose of free speech on campus. These zones bypass our constitutional right to freedom of speech by dictating where and when something can be said, but not what can be said.
How much we valuse the right of free speech is out to its severest test when the speaker is someone we disagree with most. Speech that deeply offends our morality or is hostile to our way of life promises the same constitutional protection as other speech because the right of free speech is indivisible: When one of us is denied this right, all of us are denied. Where racist, sexist and homphobic speech is concerned, I believe that more speech - not less - is the best revenge. This is particualrly true at universities, whose mission is to facilitate learning through open debate and study, and to enlighten. Speech codes are not the way to go on campuses, where all views are entitled to be heard, explored, supported or refuted. Besides, when hate is out in the open, people can see the problem. They can organize effectively to encounter bad attitudes, possibly to change them, and imitate togetherness against the forces of intolerance.
The First Amendment, usually equated with freedom of speech, affords five protections: Establishment Clause, Free exercise of religion, Freedom of speech, Freedom of press, and Freedom to peaceable assemble. Students (and student groups) in public colleges and universities enjoy full protection under the First Amendment; however, this right depends greatly on the context in which a student might raise a free speech claim. Once an institution creates a limited public forum for a student or group, administration cannot deny recognition to particular student or groups based on viewpoints. Given the great freedom students are afforded, the freedom is not absolute. The courts have allowed administrators to place reasonable restrictions on location, time, and manner of students and groups. In Tinker v. Des Moines, the court made it clear that, students do not “… shed their constitutional rights when they enter the schoolhouse door." To strengthen the importance of free speech on campus the court said, in Shelton v. Tucker “The vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American Schools.” These rights allow students to be able to take courses in a wide variety of subject matter, which may include topics often considered controversial. Moreover, student must have the ability to explore and discuss those topics without fear censorship or retaliation.
In the United States, free speech is protected by the First Amendment in which it states, “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion … or abridging the freedom of speech.” Now, nearly 250 years into the future, the exact thing that the Founding Fathers were afraid of is starting to happen. Today, our freedom of speech is being threatened through different forces, such as the tyranny of the majority, the protection of the minority, and the stability of the society. Now, colleges and universities in the United States today are also trying to institute a code upon its students that would bar them from exercising their right to speak freely in the name of protecting minorities from getting bullied. This brings us into
College campuses have always been the sites where students can express their opinions without fear. There have been many debates about the merits of allowing free speech on campus. Some students and faculties support allowing free speech on campus, while others believe that colleges should restrict free speech to make the college’s environment safer for every student. Free speeches are endangered on college campuses because of trigger warning, increasing policing of free speech, and the hypersensitivity of college students.
Notably, minority students are more likely to observe pressure by the superiority of students and realize that a violent response to fighting words will result in a risk to their own life, so, they are forced to remain silent. Indeed, speech codes are not as harmful to freedom of speech as the opponents argue, because most of them were made for the purpose of preventing speech that is not exchangeable and not protected as pure speech. In this sense, special exceptions for the content-neutral principle should be allowed on campus.
One instance of free speech controversy was when a fraternity member of the University Of Maryland had an email leaked of which he said very derogatory and racist remarks about women and shaming them on their appearance. When this email was leaked it created a widespread of controversy and anger among the country. The difficult part in this was that by popular opinion many would want to expel the student who wrote that email but lawyers suggest that by doing so would violate the student 's constitutional rights to freedom of expression. The problem with labeling this kind of behavior as hate speech and trying to suppress vulgar language is no matter how vile the language is it is protected under the first amendment of the constitution. Universities have come together in trying to diffuse this kind of behavior by adding codes of conduct that prohibit certain forms of speech from being permitted on campus. These initiatives have been challenged by civil liberty groups who feel that by prohibiting certain forms of speech the universities are restricting students on their first amendment rights and has to be cautious on what they say as one minor joke could be taken the wrong
...ion requires students to have the ability to use their right of free speech in order for their period of study to be useful. Allowing a student to share who they are and become accepting who they are gives them the ability to absorb all that they possibly can from their experience with college. When a school allows a student to share their mind then they are given the chance to learn from others opinions and develop their mind. If a school allows all students to share their ideas without limit then they can all build upon each others’ ideas and create more successful plans or solutions. One of the most important things for a student to have when they go to an institute of higher education is the right to freedom of speech. All students need the right to speak their mind and keep their privacy on their own terms if they are to receive an education that is of use.
Marla Iyasere said that, Students and faculty should not lose there first amendment Constitutional rights as they walk onto school property, and a teacher should have some measure of control over what they choose to speak and teach about (Lyasere 25). In the academic society, academic freedom is decided by the location or occupation or role in the society you are in. Many professors believe this should not be the case, such as Marjorie Heins, a former NYU adjunct professor who serves on the academic freedom and tenure committee of the American Association of University Professors. Heins said, “The lack of respect for freedom of speech permeates the whole enterprise,” (Saul). This means without freedom of speech in the classroom students and teachers will beat around the bush and won’t be able to fully explain certain concepts. Academic freedom allows the people in the classroom to connect on another level. Students will be enrolled in the course because of interest and not because of a requirement and teachers will be teaching a subject because of a passion. This bond in the classroom will bring a higher success