The purpose of this lab is to explore the ethical issues in public speaking. As you may know, important debates over freedom of speech and hate speechhave been taking place on campuses across the country in recent years. Read the brief essay titled “Campus Life: Free Speech versus Hate Speech“.Write a two-page essay addressing the following questions:
1. In your own words, discuss what constitutes hate speech.
2. Should hate speech be allowed?
3. If hate speech policies are in place on campuses, does this limit freedom of speech?
4. In your opinion, how can this ethical dilemma be resolved?
Article: “Campus Life: Free Speech versus Hate Speech”
US colleges and universities have long been at the center of the debate over what constitutes free speech versus hate speech. On the one side are those who resist censorship of any kind, often in support of the constitutional rights of the First Amendment. On the other side are advocates of hate speech codes and policies that limit what students and faculty can and cannot say and do; these advocates argue that such codes are necessary to ensure a tolerant and safe environment.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, more than three hundred schools instituted hate speechcodes prohibiting certain forms of offensive speech and acts that were deemed intimidating or hostile to individuals or groups.1 Many of these codes were later found to be unconstitutional, but anti-harassment policies de? signed to do much the same thing remain in place today. These, along with federal laws designed to protect students from a hostile learning environment, allow administrators to punish students and faculty for what they judge to be offensive speech. Some universities limit student protests and demonstrations to designated areas on campus called “free speech zones.” In several instances stu?dents have sued university officials over this policy, arguing that such zones in? fringe on students’ First Amendment rights.
Hate speech codes and policies raise important ethical questions. Supporters of such policies claim that they are necessary to protect students from intimida?tion. Detractors argue that limits on free speech prevent students with unpopu?lar or politically incorrect views from freely expressing themselves. As Kermit L. Hall, president of Utah State University, has written:
Free speech at public universities and colleges is at once the most obvious and the most paradoxical of constitutional principles. It is obvious because given the nature of academic inquiry, only an open, robust and critical environment for speech will support the quest for truth. At the same time, universities are at once communities that must balance the requirements of free speech with issues of civility, respect and human dignity. They are also part and parcel of the larger social order with its own, often competing set of values.
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