Speech On College Campuses

Factors that hold relevance to speech on public college campuses include whether the speech takes place on the campus itself, what specifically is being spoken or demonstrated, is the speech directed to someone or a group specifically or is the speech broad, at what point has the speech turned to action, is the speech considered hate speech, violent, disruptive, or threatening to any reasonable individuals’ ideals? These are just a few factors which must be asked when dealing with speech on public college campuses.

For instance: suppose an individual is on the University of Arizona’s campus and they are preaching about a contested subject. Many of the factors listed above will be used in determining whether the speech is constitutionally upheld by the First Amendment or if the speech is deemed unconstitutional and in violation of the University’s policy.

If the language is specifically targeting a group, the speech may still be allowed, however, if the speech turns to action in the form of violence, the administration may ban the speaker from speaking. The reason can be found in the Supreme Court case Chaplinsky, where the Court found that if speech was shown to "inflict injury or tend to incite an

However, a year later a student is found to be saying similar things about a woman, but the words are written on a website nonrelated to the university, can the university then regulate the speech? The answer is ‘it depends’. The context, which site, the factors the exact phrasing and where the student posted the threatening speech. The Court would likely judge the situation individually, relating cases such as Chaplinsky or Black, but the ruling would most likely be vague again, only looking at the specific context and factors of the situation, leaving other similar situation up for