No one approves of what happened after the football
game or what was printed on the board over at the physics building.
No one wants racist jokes on the campus radio. But do we need
a code like this? I think the administration is afraid that the
state legislature will cut their funding if they don't look like
they're doing something about racism. That's not the way to make
educational policy.
- Adopting a policy like this is like going after a fly with
a jack hammer. There is a small number of students here who will
use words like "nigger," "kike," and so forth.
They may shout at someone and in the worst cases they may do something
like writing on the board at physics. We don't need a general
rule on speech to deal with this.
- If you look at some of the examples given in the guide that
the university published, it's obvious that in part the administration
is trying to legislate kind and considerate behavior. Students are forbidden
to laugh at someone who stutters. Students are forbidden to put
someone down because of the way he or she looks. Students are
forbidden to tell jokes about gays. Now all those things are unkind;
but should the university be in the business of requiring kindness?
Is it realistic?
- There is no way to precisely describe improper action. Inevitably,
codes like this are too broad and open to abuse. For example,
the code can be selectively enforced. Besides that, a policy like
this puts the administration on a slippery slope, and we have
no way of telling where the slope will end.
Speaking)
