The Importance Of Identity And Identity In College

College is a time when most individuals are experiencing major changes and begin to explore new perspectives. The transition in becoming more independent, creating new insights and peer influence are key factors in changing the perspective of an individual. Students are faced with new ideas from their professors, family and fellow peers. Through that acquired knowledge many students decide that they either agree or disagree with the perspectives that they are taught. Allowing the right of ‘Free Speech’ on public college campuses has become an important issue that many public colleges are starting to address. In college students are capable of

“Free Inquiry? Not on Campus” by John Leo is an important essay that shows exactly how important it is to protect people's political views and opinions. In Leo's essay, he elaborates how times have changed and how we live in more of a liberal left-wing society and because of this everyone has to be more politically correct. Leo talks about the social change universities and colleges on how they used to promote free speech, but now are more like the speech police telling us what's opinions you should have on any given subject and any other opinion is considered wrong. Leo gives an example of this and writes “in October 2007, for instance, a student mob stormed a Columbia University stage, shutting down speeches by two members of the Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigration group.The students shouted they have no right to

“Over the years, courts have ruled that college officials may set up reasonable rules to regulate the ‘time, place and manner” that the free speech can occur, as long as the rules are “content neutral,’ meaning they apply equally to all sides of issues” (Fisher, 2008). Speech codes and free speech zones on campus do exist for many reasons: many of the causes or topics that students or others looking to interact with students take up are controversial and can frequently take on less of an academic or social justice overtone and more of a hateful one. Hate speech is the greatest threat to freedom of speech on college campuses, and the limitations colleges and universities put on student’s verbal freedoms are largely in place as efforts to avoid it. Religion, in particular, is a hot topic on campuses and it has an unfortunate tendency to become more aggressive and argumentative than universities would like. However, under the First Amendment, individuals do have a right to speech that the listener disagrees with and to speech that is offensive and hateful. It’s always easier to defend someone’s right to say something with which you agree. But in a free society, you also have a duty to defend speech to which you may strongly object.

The subject of student rights has caused a lot of confusion and anger for decades now. There are two different sides that everyone seems to fall into. Some people want the constitutional rights of students to be fully protected within the school. The other side believes that, as a public institution, schools should regulate what is said or done by students to protect everyone involved. This is where it gets confusing, because it is hard to draw the line between what is allowed or not. The three most interesting topics that I chose to cover are a student’s right to free speech, religion within the school and student privacy.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill opened in 1795 as the first public college in the United States. Since then, free speech and the formation of independent ideas and opinions have been seen as integral parts of a student’s educational experience. Unfortunately, through the categorization of public college campuses as designated public forums and the implementation of restrictive student conduct codes and debilitating free speech zones, universities are denying students the expression they deserve. While these policies were originally created to protect students, they are now leading to a rising number of student tensions, lawsuits, and constitutional arguments. Every university is unique in its ability to define campus

In his essay, “The Campus: An Island of Repression in a Sea of Freedom”, Chester Finn details the growing movement for political correctness at the collegiate level. He quotes the regents of Massachusetts, “There must be unity and cohesion in the diversity which we seek to achieve, thereby creating an atmosphere of pluralism” (Finn 58). However, that pluralism does not parallel the First Amendment. In this situation, the issue is not freedom of expression, but the steps taken to limit it. An article written by Maegan Vazquez for Fox News details a stipulation to the speech code at Indiana University Southeast. The code states that students are restricted to expressing their opinions in “free speech” zones. However, Robert Shibley, Senior Vice President for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, fires back “It's not just Indiana University Southeast. Colorado College, in Colorado Springs, prohibits ‘any act of ridicule...or embarrassment,’ and Northeastern University, in Boston, prohibits the use of university computer resources to transmit or make accessible material, which in the sole judgment of the University is offensive." He sums up the damage that this situation is causing with his final statement. “You're teaching [college students] that they're not equipped to live in a free society” (Vazquez). Therefore, those parents who worry about the indoctrination of their college-age children are justified in that fear as this problem is widespread and

In, On the Repression of Free Expression, Mike Bloomberg argues that freedom of speech is needed on campuses. Bloomberg also believes it is not right to take away the privilege of learning from students, just because of other individual students. “we cannot others the right and privileges that we demand for ourselves” (Bloomberg.104). They cannot have campus wide trigger warnings over one individual student. Condensing what students could learn, is not helping their education. Professors should be allowed to teach and discuss the topics they have to without fear. “Ideas can be dangerous” (Bloomberg.105). Not everyone’s opinion will be one to agree with, nor everything a person has to say, but people have to adjust to the real world where everything is not sugar

Free Speech on Campus incorporates arguments in favor of promoting broad speech protections on campus as well as arguments in favor of restricting free speech to protect the learning experience of students. Ultimately, the authors of the book take the side of supporting broad speech protections on campus in that as long as professional character is maintained, all ideas and views, protected by the 1st amendment, should be able to be expressed on college campuses, no matter how offensive or how uncomfortable they make people feel. While those in favor of restricting speech argue that students should be protected from hateful, discriminatory, or intolerant speech as a means of protecting the educational setting, the authors maintain that the

Imagine being arrested for calling someone a mean name. The first amendment to the United States Constitution grants freedom of expression. Such liberties distinguish the United States from other nations who lack liberties for their people. However, plenty of people claim freedom of speech is abused by people to harass minorities with hate speech. Hate speech is a verbal attack on a person or group due to their ethnic background, race, gender, sexuality, religion or disability. Numerous people demand a ban on hate speech from college campuses. However, in elementary, middle and high school, we were taught to not ridicule other religions, races or sexualities. In college, we are all adults and should be able to carry ourselves accordingly. The campuses should not kick students out because they have different beliefs that are offensive. Even though it is not morally correct to offend or be disrespectful to a person by stripping them of their dignity, it is not illegal. Taking away a person’s voice strips his or her right to express themselves because they are forced to remain silent. Just

The founding fathers made free speech the First Amendment not to protect popular speech, but for the protection of unpopular speech that goes against the views of the majority. In the United States, colleges are a form of higher education beyond high school where students go further themselves for their future careers. While at college, students engage in debates that will either reaffirm or make them rethink their own beliefs, in turn making students active and engaged US citizens. However, recently an emergence of calls for the regulation of speech have gained popularity across US campuses. These people seek to regulate speech to keep students from taking offense from speech in order to promote an inclusive and diverse college environment. Colleges have a responsibility to maintain a welcoming environment for all students on campus regardless of their race or religion. However, questions to how

It is frequently assumed that when one is in college, that he is rid of limitations: welcome to stay out as late as he desires, able to be in charge of his decisions, and free to express his own opinion without fear. However, censorship from campus to campus confirms that students do not have the right to say what they think. This is an issue that interferes with the actual importance of college. This includes teaching students critical thinking skills, as well as the skill to craft innovative ideas that will help them to become successful in life. Although censorship has become accepted at many universities, students have the obligation to recognize that by embracing censorship, they are rejecting learning opposing views. Moreover, a right to free speech is a defining characteristic of our nation.

The First Amendment of the United States constitution grants all citizens the right to freedom of speech and press. Yet lines can be blurred when it comes to hate speech on college campuses. Many believe that one's speech should always be protected under the First Amendment, while others believe that freedom of speech should be limited to create a more inclusive learning environment for all students, especially those of a minority who may feel discriminated against on campus. I believe that all speech should be protected on college campuses because freedom of speech allows students to find and express their own opinions.

After recent increase of violence activists arose in college campus the culprit being targeted is unregulated speech. Many campuses are forming regulations on speech codes, others choose to remain unregulated. The decision making process is not put at ease with the first and fourteen amendment conflicting between the citizens’ rights to freedom of expression, and the right to equal educational opportunities. Is there a middle ground that allows individuals to continue their education in the sanction of a college campuses while not infringing on others’ right to speech? The possibility is there where we can decide what protected and unprotected speech is without turning the first amendment into a tool of domination.

Free speech has been an issue that the public has been struggling with. From as broadly as online platforms to as specific as public school campuses, there has always been an issue about the right of free speech. It has the capabilities of influencing the people's’ control of language and thought. In the eyes of people in power, free speech has evolved into a matter of comforting the masses. Free speech is directly being targeted at a publicly funded school campus. A publicly funded school campus is supposed to be politically neutral, but if some speakers are allowed to speak and some are not based on their political affiliations, then that gives the implication that some college campus are politically biased. To fix this, public schools should be given the choice of having all shapes and forms of free speech or do not have free speech at all. There are flaws when addressing “speech codes” since they do not apply equally to platforms such as private campuses, who are private business and not affiliated with the government (Lukianoff). Free speech in The Constitution of United States cannot, except under unlikely circumstances, be altered. However, it is up to the people to take advantage of their right to free speech. Those who protest speakers coming to college campuses, and are in favor of limiting their free speech, are in turn limiting their own right to free speech by weakening the societal backing of the first amendment. The people can cause destruction or order to

Campuses across the country have seen the rise of student protests against speakers over the recent years and several examples have turned violent. This is just one of the many issues involving free speech on campuses. As colleges and universities try their best to avoid controversy and disruption, free speech is put under pressure by policies that both limit and harm it. Regardless of whether they are legally allowed to do so, aren’t colleges and universities obligated to protect free speech? Without free speech protecting the communication and exchanging of ideas between students, higher education is just like primary/secondary education but with higher level courses. Many colleges and universities are guilty of obstructing free speech through policies aimed to take control of it: three common ways campus administrations dictate the limits of free speech are by implementing free speech zones that confine free expression to physical boundaries, involving security and police to supervise protests, and even disinviting speaker’s that were already invited. They may take these actions to prevent disruptions to the learning environment, but the result of their rules and regulations inhibit their students’ intellects, even though they pay tuition to learn at their schools.