Freedom of speech is defined as the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint. It comes from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and is stated as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Unfortunately, James Madison did not know that this simple statement would turn into so many unnecessary problems in the United States today, especially on college campuses.
With more and more people feeling offended by what others have to say, there is this censorship cloud that has impacted freedom of speech. However, at North Central, students have the right and are even encouraged to voice their opinions and beliefs on campus. According to the student handbook, the College refers to this topic as “free expression” and states the following:
The College affirms its belief in the importance of free expression and the right of all members of the College community to speak in favor of issues that they support, and to criticize issues with which they disagree. At the same time, students share with the College a responsibility to help insure a campus climate of civility — one where intimidation, hostility, or demeaning actions directed toward a specific individual or group are not tolerated.
Students have the right to express their opinions, as long as their opinions are civil. However, this concept of civility, something that is determined by different standards, can be seen as a limitation to one’s right of free speech. If someone has the right to say what they want, then they shouldn’t have to make sure that what they say is civil, right? Well, in this case, students can still say whatever they want; North Central just asks that students aren’t intimidating, hostile or demeaning. Students can still freely express themselves while also being respectful, and that is the responsibility of the student.
It is important that students are actively using, while not abusing, their right to express their opinions, on and off campus. Free expression is beneficial to both individual students and the wider community of college campuses, especially at North Central.
“We’ve created an environment where people are willing to have tough conversations and learn from one another’s perspectives,” Connor McGury, ’18, said. “This leads to lots of students feeling comfortable expressing their own opinions.”
“Academic institutions are nothing without free expression and the free exchange of ideas,” communication department chair Dr. Steve Macek said.
While there is an open environment on campus, or so people think, the issue of censorship still floats around.
First, there’s the issue of censoring freedom of speech: should freedom of speech be censored on campus? “College is supposed to be a time where you are exposed to new ideas and beliefs,” McGury said. “Censoring student voices, or opinions, is counterproductive to getting outside of your comfort zone and learning new things.”
In contrast, Kaya Goodwin, ’20, said, “While I firmly believe that everyone has a right to express their own opinions, beliefs, thoughts, etc., I don’t believe anyone has a right to make other people feel unsafe or unwelcome, especially within the college context.”
While it’s not OK to feel unsafe or unwelcome in conversation, it is OK to feel uncomfortable and disagree with what others have to say, especially when it’s political.
“Being intellectually uncomfortable is an essential part of the higher education experience,” dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Stephen Caliendo said. “In essence, it’s what you’re paying for.” Listening to conversations that you don’t necessarily agree with is important for continued academic growth and allows students to understand different perspectives.
Second, there’s the discussion of whether colleges should have “safe spaces” on campus. Safe spaces are defined as places where people can go where they won’t be exposed to uncomfortable topics or viewpoints, where they are “safe” from opinions that would otherwise harm their mental state. It is important for students to feel safe on campus, yet listening to controversial issues can also broaden students’ perspectives or even assist in making students’ own beliefs stronger.
Students need to be able to embrace conversations that question their beliefs so that they can learn from them. “Safe spaces, in my opinion, create an environment that contradicts what the goal of a collegiate institution should be,” Tanner James, ’18, said. “At the same time, it is important to have places where people can go and be surrounded by people who share similar beliefs and they can have discussions about them.”
“It’s important to encourage others to respectfully have discussions and better understand others’ viewpoints,” Christine Seitz, ’19, OUTreach co-president, said.
That being said, it is important to note that, according to Dr. Macek, “the entire campus cannot be a safe space. That would in some ways destroy the idea of a public forum.” Not only would it destroy the idea of a public forum, but it would potentially infringe on people’s freedom of speech. There is a time and a place for certain viewpoints and opinions to be discussed, and students must understand when those appropriate times are.
There has been discussion of whether controversial speakers, such as Milo Yiannopoulos, should be allowed to speak on campus. Controversial speakers can be both helpful and harmful to students and college communities in that they can further expand one’s own beliefs and broaden your perspective, yet they can also be verbally abusive if what they say discriminates against any sort of person or group of people, whether it is based on gender, race, religious beliefs or social class.
When it comes to North Central hosting speakers on campus, the school wants the event to be welcoming to many different ideas and perspectives. “Denying a speaker, however, is not the same as prohibiting the message from occurring on our campus,” Dr. Caliendo said. Unfortunately, the school does not have unlimited resources to allow everyone to speak on campus, so they decide what they feel is the best way to spend students’ tuition dollars.
In a way, attending an event with a controversial speaker can be a good learning experience for students. “Controversial speakers should be allowed on campus for the same reason that free speech should be actively exercised on campus,” James said. “It’s important to respectfully listen to ideas, understand them and scrutinize them (and) it is up to us to either defend or criticize those ideas.”
However, if a controversial speaker is on campus “simply to promote hatred, intolerance or mistrust of certain groups of people, I’m not really sure why they would need to have a platform in the first place,” Goodwin said.
Students can freely express themselves in any way on campus if it is done in a respectful way. Some students feel that they don’t need to censor what they say on campus because they are comfortable with it. “Personally, I feel comfortable talking about my opinions on campus, and am always willing to talk to someone who may disagree with me,” McGury said.
Others feel that they have to be a little more careful when expressing their opinions. “Personally, I gauge a situation before I express my opinions. I don’t feel that I am censoring what I am saying because of how others may react, but that I am being mindful of others’ opinions and perspectives,” Seitz said.
Dr. Caliendo mentions that there is concern that conservative students feel that they cannot freely express their opinions and political viewpoints.
“I’d be surprised if some of our conservative students do not feel similarly, but I know that many faculty work hard to allow for a diverse array of opinions to be expressed during class discussions, so long as classroom policies are followed,” he said.
North Central offers many different student organizations on campus where students can freely discuss their opinions, especially their political views, such as College Democrats and College Republicans.
All students have the right to freedom of speech on campus and can express themselves as they please. It is up to students to decide whether they feel their opinions should be censored, but they shouldn’t feel like they do need to be censored.
“We owe it to each other to promote diversity of thought and learn whatever we can from each other’s experiences,” McGury said.
