Two Tiers of Speech (Malik Speaking)
		Comment				MAIN PATH: John
			John				Dee

I think there are better ways to think about the problem from a legal perspective. I don't know whether the laws and precedents on a hostile work environment can be applied to the campus. We should think of other approaches. Consider this:

• The Supreme Court has already established a two tiered system of First Amendment protection. Political speech, for example, is on the top tier. Not all speech merits or receives the nearly unqualified protection afforded at the top.
  

• A narrowly defined subset of hate speech could be placed on the lower tier because it has no intellectual value, relies on irrational appeals, and does considerable harm.
  

• Like other kinds of speech on the lower tier, these cases of hate speech could be regulated without constitutional problems.

This approach is more direct and honest that trying to force hate speech into the fighting words exception or adapting the law on a hostile work environment. It states clearly why hate speech should be restricted and why it is not unconstitutional to do so. It would leave the higher tier intact. Rational political discussions about race - even by persons who advocate racial discrimination and racist psychological and anthropological theories - would still be protected.

Ariadne Home	Hate Speech Bibliography	Hate Speech Home