Hate Speech On Campus Speech Analysis

The above incidents indicate that hate speech on the college campus is very common and serious. Some people argue that we must impose some sort of punishment for perpetrators of offensive speech on campus, whereas some oppose regulation on offensive speech. Mari J. Matsuda, the author of the article, “Assultive speech and academic freedom,” is a supporter of hate speech regulation on campus. First, she argues that hate speech on campus violates American democracy since it infringes on the rights of minority students to have equal access and equal participation in the college (Matsuda, p.150). She mentions that it is unlikely for most university students of color to experience campus life without coming across offensive speech or harassment (151). Attending university can be an essential life stress event for a majority of students (151). Students who come to the university are certainly vulnerable to psychological harm and

Shiell, the author of “Campus Hate Speech on Trial,” opposes speech codes on campus and insists the importance of a university to “distinguish genuine harassment from mere offensiveness” (169). In order to achieve equality, a university must adopt “educational and economic measures” instead of imposing punishments due to the fact that educating has a better result in the long run (169). Also, universities must make sure that due process rights are under the protection, meaning that you might not be sinful although you are accused of disobeying speech regulations (169). Shiell believes that universities should come up with some policies that are concentrated on conduct rather than speech since speech is tolerable but not the action (169). Even if a university must set up rules to regulate, it should regulate speech that is a “targeted, intentional, repeated verbal abuse serving no legitimate academic purpose” (171). Shiell insists that we should try our best to achieve both freedom and equality through a more feasible strategy