FIRE speech code

After reading the article and seeing those horrifying pictures, there is no doubt in my mind that what happened that night should be banned on campus.  Obviously the people at the party thought it was a funny idea at the time and didn’t realize what they were actually doing. I would be embarrassed to see myself in one of those pictures. I think these actions should be outlawed because it is going overboard on one’s first amendment. These actions could potentially cause violence and could have consequences.  University policy forbids "any form of discrimination or harassment related to a student's race." The policy defines harassment broadly, including "slurs, jokes or other graphic or physical conduct related to a student's race." This situation that happened at the Halloween party violated the speech code and should be outlawed.

I chose Miami of Ohio. Their harassment policy pretty much states that any harassment that can lead to harm or health of another person is banned. Any intentional or reckless acts that cause or could cause physical or mental harm are prohibited. The student life section describes how the university strongly opposes and will not tolerate harassment of discrimination on the basis of age, color, disability, race, etc. As a prospective student, this makes me feel pretty comfortable at this school. I know that if anybody harassed me about my religion or race, I have the school to back me up. It makes the school seem like a pretty safe environment. When researching this school, I never really thought about this aspect until now. After reading the speech codes, it makes my interest in the school a lot stronger. I think their speech codes are definitely legal. The codes talk about harassment and how it could cause harm or health issues. That should definitely be protected by the first amendment. Hate crimes at school should be protected because of the school environment.  Your freedom of speech is limited while on school grounds and I believe it should stay that way.

I totally agree with FIRE. They are trying to protect students as much as possible they give good information about what speech codes are and how they work. The database with all the colleges is a really cool aspect because it allows students who are potentially going to that school; understand what the speech codes are there. That can be a deciding factor for some students and can be an aspect to think about before applying to a school. The restrictions and codes that they point out are all for the students best interest. They are doing whatever they can to protect students and they put a lot of pride and work to making this country’s colleges safe for students.

As a senior in high school, I am really happy to find this website. I will use it to my best advantage when applying to schools.  I now know what FIRE thinks about the speech codes and how they are differ from school to school.