The University Code (Ann Speaking)
		Comment				MAIN PATH: Fred
		Ann	John	Fred		Malik

I've had to struggle with this; but in the end I think my position is consistent with the liberal positions I've taken on other issues.

I'm usually in favor of expanding the boundaries of free expression. But it seems to me that we are faced here with a special case. Black students have come onto largely white campuses in larger numbers than ever before and there is a hostile reaction from some of the white students. We have to deal with that reaction without sacrificing the value of free expression.

In society at large, I agree with your argument about protecting worthless speech in order to make sure we protect the core of worth while speech. But we aren't talking about society at large. We are talking about a special situation: a state university campus. We have to address our arguments to that situation. Here's my view:

• The state university is not simply a public place. It is a government institution with specific purposes. One of its essential purposes is to provide its students with access to a solid education. Its main goal is education.

• Actions like those we have seen lately interfere with the goal of education. They create an atmosphere that makes it much more difficult for black students to study and learn.

• Hate speech can be and should be prohibited because it interferes with the main goal of the university.

Consider an analogy. The courtroom is another institution established by the government for specific purposes. If someone came into a courtroom and disrupted the proceedings by shouting, that person would be excluded. Shouting is banned precisely because it seriously interferes with achieving the purposes of the court. We would laugh at anyone who said they had a moral right or a First Amendment right to go into any courtroom at all and start shouting. The same is true for this university.

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