What about the Means? (Dee Speaking)
		Comment		Source		MAIN PATH: John
			John	Fred

I agree with you that there is harm being done to African Americans and women on this campus. I agree that in some cases that harm is caused in part through the use of words. But I disagree with the conclusion you draw.

As a liberal society we have a commitment to resolving problems in certain ways and not others. You say conservatives can't see the harm. I don't know about that. Ask Fred. I see the harm just as you do but I believe that our commitment to individual rights means that certain means for dealing with that harm are off limits. It is not the harm, but the means for dealing with it that is at issue here.

We carried out a civil rights revolution in this country - eliminating legally established racial segregation and extending the vote to African Americans in the south - without banning speech or books or racist organizations. If we could do that, we can deal with the problems on this campus without speech codes. You know as well as I do that the university, unlike the south in the 60s, is basically liberal on all these issues.

I don't deny the harm you are concerned about. I suggest that a speech code like the one adopted is too broad and therefore not a legitimate means for dealing with that harm.

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