Research Paper On The First Amendment

The First Amendment Paper

With an ever changing political climate, the first amendment right of free speech has been called into question. On college campuses it is no longer a black and white when it comes to freedom of speech. Free speech can come in many forms such as protest, journalism, and social media. This raises the question: is using the right of free speech to shut down someone else’s own right unjust? The grey area lies here, where the answer is not as clear. The right to freedom of speech should not be abridged, if one believes contrarily, they themselves, are in violation of the first amendment.
Freedom of speech was recently violated at the University of Oregon, where President Michael H. Schill was forced to stop speaking

when students rushed the stage furthermore “denounced Schill’s support for free speech rights as furthering “fascism and white supremacy.” While students may not agree with Schill’s message, his speech is still protected, not falling under the six forms of unprotected expression. Also, forasmuch as this was a scheduled speaking event and not an open forum, “colleges have student-conduct policies that prohibit the disruption of regular business or authorized campus activities.”(The Chronicle) Based on this assumption, the students did not have the right to shut down the president.
Protesting isn’t something that we’re against, we support the right for people to voice their opinions no matter how controversial;veritably, even if we did not support their right to speak freely, we could do nothing about it due to their first amendment right. Howard Gillman and Erwin Chemerinsky say “one cannot walk into a courtroom of a controversial judge and shout criticisms in a way that disrupts scheduled judicial proceedings.”(The Chronicle) Going to show that a scheduled speaker cannot be shut down.