One of the the pieces I will be using for my research project is "'Speech Codes' on The Campus and Problems with Free Speech" by Nat Hentoff. To provide some background on the author, he is a nationally-renowned American historian and culture critic who has wrote for the The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times and The New York Times among several other publications. Additionally, he is on the Board of Advisers for the Foundation for Individual Rights on Campus (F.I.R.E.). He is known for several subject areas regarding his journalism, especially defending free speech and civil liberties as well as his critique of jazz music. In this piece Hentoff took issue with the ongoing use and evolution of speech codes on college campuses.
In "'Speech Codes' on The Campus and Problems with Free Speech," Hentoff argues that there has been a shift in academia toward a degree of political correctness that is not conducive to reality nor does it reflect true education. Hentoff illustrates the realities of speech codes at several Ivy-League universities and how they are defended as mechanisms to derail hate speech -- racist, sexist, homophobic speech -- on campus. Though he takes issue with this notion and suggests that said speech codes are inadvertently racist and more offensive themselves. One of Hentoff's main point though, is that speech codes on college campuses, in addition to the fear of being in the minority in regard to political opinion (held both by students and faculty), fosters an environment that is not at all freedom-oriented.
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