For my topic I got to interview the Rutgers expert on political science and the First Amendment, Elizabeth Hull. Mrs. Hull is a professor and the Chair of the Department of political science at Rutgers-Newark. Since my research is about speech codes on college campuses, her and I had a lengthy discussion over the phone about First Amendment rights on college campuses.
One of the first things that Mrs. Hull made clear was that, "the biggest threat to free speech is a sense of political correctness." Although she made clear what the purpose of speech codes that are in the name of free speech hold. She said that there is a need for universities to have the policies on the books in case there are verbal assaults that are disruptive to the educational process and/or the peaceful environment on campus. Mrs. Hull said that there must be a clear distinction between academic speech and personal assault, citing examples that dealt with racism. This is mainly because no one gains from the personal opinions of someone who is a racist, for example.
One of the main points that Mrs. Hull made is that universities have a responsibility to host all views on campus and that it is vital to the learning process.
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