Will Codes Work? (John Speaking)
						MAIN PATH: Ann
		Ann

Let me try to summarize some of what we're saying.

• Dee might allow for a very narrowly drawn code that would ban speech that harasses specific individuals. But she thinks it would deal with only a tiny piece of the racial problem on campus and she's not convinced it would be good policy. She believes the code we have is too broad.

• Ann thinks the code we have is a good start. She believes it can be justified because hate speech interferes with the main goal of the university.

• Vera and Malik also believe the code is a good start and would support a broader code. They believe that it would eliminate the harm that hate speech does to black students and women on campus and also help to reduce certain traditional hierarchies in society at large.

• Fred believes that the code puts us on a slippery slope and doesn't think it addresses the underlying problems.
  

Let me ask this question: What exactly is this code supposed to do and will it work? Will it really deliver what anyone wants it to deliver?

To the extent that our arguments for and against codes are based on empirical claims about the consequences of adopting a code, they stand or fall with those claims. For example, if hate speech does not seriously interfere with the educational goal of the university, or if the code we have will not eliminate that interference, then one argument in its favor collapses.

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