Political Correctness In College

In recent years, the topic of political correctness has made headlines throughout the country. It is not uncommon for the topic of political correctness on college campuses to be very controversial. In fact, the topic is becoming a widespread dilemma that is continuously unfolding for our generation because of the uncertainty of the question, “where should the line be drawn?”. Political correctness is defined as agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people. As stated by Sam Wright, “It’s causing people to pause and think about how their words affect others when, in the past, they’ve never had reason to pause and think before speaking. Yes, sometimes

people get carried away and cross the line. But the law gives us tools for dealing with this!”(Sam Wright). He is acknowledging that people should have a filter because many people get carried away with derogatory terms that they might not see as a problem. College campuses across the United States have been battling in what may begin to seem like a culture war. The topic of political correctness on colleges and universities spark debates about racism, religion, and sexual preferences, these are subjects that have shined a light on issues that we unfortunately still face in today’s society.
To begin with, in the previous year, numerous amount of complaints from the University of Missouri have come to light as student gather to protest against racist encounters against African American students.

In midst of the students trying to voice their opinions about the issues to bring change and equality, the president of the university Tim Wolfe resigned on November 9th. The students who protested where asking for change in order to feel safe on their university. The president Tim Wolfe apparently fell into the same system of not trying to make a change on the campus after several serious racial complaints had been made. The protestors amplified their views by voicing their opinions on the lack administrative power to help stop the constant acts of racist remarks. Attending college should be an experience that will make a graduate feel accomplished and content with the memories they made along the way, it should not bring the burden of knowing that there is still a racist culture with the lack of humanity. Yet, there are people who call the protestors names, such as “winey babies” and believe that they are college liberals being extremely sensitive. In the following quote by Lindy West from her article, "'Political Correctness' Doesn't Hinder Free Speech, It Expands It, she explains her views about racially oppressed groups being called oversensitive for matters they believe is wrong and are fighting for a change, “The punchlines are punching back. But it’s much easier

to ignore your complicity in oppressive systems if you can cast the people who have been legitimately harmed as “oversensitive” (Lindy West).
Arguably, there is a point when people should begin to draw the line when almost everything said or done begins to become a problem. On an article written by Katherine Timf, she lists out instances where political correctness went overboard. For instance, there’s a guide called “The Bias Free Language Guide” that deliberate states that the use of the world American was very problematic because it causes offense to non-Americans who live in America and because it also excludes people from South America. Another outrageous politically correct instant was when it was declared sexist to dislike pumpkin spice lattes as stated by Min Cheng who wrote it on Swarthmore College’s student paper. Political correctness should be focused on real troubling issues with a bigger picture.
With this in mind, the act of being politically correct on campus only encourages the student body to be mindful and considerate of racially and historically oppressed groups.

It will not hinder the freedom of speech because it allows for the avoidance of the act of hate to be channeled. Racism is an ongoing issue that needs to be stopped immediately because everyone should be treated equal and it should never be based on the color of one’s skin. “If you’re genuinely concerned about “free speech”, take a step back and look at what’s actually happening here: a bunch of college students, on the cusp of finding their voices, being publicly berated by high-profile writers in national publications because they don’t like what they have to say. Are you sure you know who’s silencing whom?”(Lindy West), this powerful quote is reaffirming the why student bodies are voicing their opinions through protest. There’s a bigger issue that is still among us so, don’t miss the forest for the trees. Political correctness should be focused on real troubling issues with a bigger picture as stated above, but it will ultimately offended people who agree with systematic racism, and free speech will not be interrupted in any

way.