Freedom to Speak Free speech on college campuses

Freedom to Speak Free speech on college campuses James Goodnight Professor Ramos English 101

Title IX and Equality ❏ Title IX is a piece of legislation signed by former President Richard Nixon in 1972 in light of discrimination against women at American Universities. ❏ The law stated, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. ” ❏ A Connecticut judge in 1971 had said “Athletic competition builds character in our boys. We do not need that kind of character in our girls. ” Setting the table for the law to to be signed in legislation. ❏ The law was originally to promote gender equality in Colleges and has since been used in a wide array of issues varying from collegiate athletics to freedom of speech.

Repercussions of Title IX in Recent Years *See Carle, The Strange Career of Title IX 448 -449 for insight on the issue. ❏ In 2015 Laura Kipnis, a Northwestern University film professor was investigated due to Title IX complaints filed by students because of her views. ❏ Her views were towards the Office of Civil Rights explaining they were infantilizing students and their growing sense of vulnerability is impeding education and lowering workplace success. ❏ She was questioned about her essay for multiple hours while not being permitted to have legal representation instead only a colleague. ❏ The same colleague, Stephen Eisenman the head of Northwestern faculty senate was brought up on charges in regards to Title IX when he told the faculty senate the investigation was an infringement on academic freedom.

Effect on Students ❏ In 2016 two Babson College students were charged wit. In March 2017, student Alexander Beck’s Bake sale was shut down by Regis University for offering baked goods for prices dependent on race, religion and sexual orientation during the schools social justice week. ❏ April 2017 a University of South Alabama student was ordered to remove his Trump/Pence 2016 sign of his dorm window. After retaliation from FIRE the charges were dropped. ❏ The day after the presidential election Harassment and disorderly conduct for driving around another college campus with Trump flags shouting campaign slogans. After a hearing with the school they were found not guilty of harassment.

Info found on https: //www. thefire. org/ ❏ F. I. R. E is the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. ❏ According to their websites mission statement” Fire's mission is to defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America's colleges and Universities. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience. ” ❏ It was founded in 1999 by University professor Alan Charles Kors and Boston Civil Liberties attorney Harvey Silvergate. ❏ They have helped on a wide variety of cases in regards to the first amendment regardless of political views in the hopes of preserving free speech.

Speech Codes ❏ Speech codes are rules and regulations that seek to limit or ban speech beyond the legal limitations of freedom of speech. ❏ They are used to suppress speech deemed as harassment, slander, libel, and fighting words. ❏ The UC system has been attempting to adopt new speech codes to oppose anti-semitism in the form of banning criticism of Israel. ❏ If adopted students could face suspension or even expulsion as a result of violating the code.

Hate Speech Is not Free Speech ❏ According to Dr. Farhana Sultana of Syracuse University the free speech movement has been co-opted by far right groups in liberal democracies to promote hate speech under the guise of free speech. ❏ She argues that free speech and academic freedom are two different premise in the sense that academic freedom is speech that is well informed and with reasoned argument to take place. ❏ It’s argued that academic publishing is being used to push a false See Sultana, The false equivalence of academic freedom and free speech: Defending academic integrity in the age of white supremacy, colonial nostalgia, and anti-intellectualism narrative and traditional standards are being bypassed. ❏ In 2017 a peice called “A Case for Colonialism” was published in Third World Quarterly despite being rejected by 3 of 4 peers as a viewpoint piece to stir debate.

Speak Your mind See Hart, A BALANCING ACT FOR AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES: ANTIHARASSMENT POLICY V. FREEDOM OF SPEECH ❏ Freedom of Speech is one of the most hotly debated topics in academia at the moment with validities to each side of the subject. ❏ Promoting free speech and expression helps to promote a society of diverse thinking and helps expose bigotry naturally. ❏ “By allowing college and university administrations to punish hateful or offensive speech, which is tremendously challenging to define, we run the risk of punishing or silencing speech that might otherwise be accepted by society or at the very least expand awareness of diverse viewpoints”(Hart 33). ❏ To be able to have a true conversation on a topic you must risk being offensive to tell the truth, and although some speech can be considered hateful sometimes those words are necessary to put forward a point in the name of the conversation. Without the conversation what are we ?