Should We Suppress Hate Speeches in the University?

Introduction

Although no widely recognized definition of the term hate speech yet exists, its traditional interpretation included any form of expression that any racial, religious, ethnic, or national group found offensive (Boeckman and Jeffrey, 2002). This definition broadened in the 1980s to include groups based or age, gender, sexual preference, marital status, and physical ability. This paper discusses whether we should suppress hate speeches in the university or not.

Should We Suppress Hate Speeches in the University?

In a sense we should suppress hate speeches in the university and in another sense we should not suppress hate speeches in the university. It has both-positive and negative sides.

Most commonly, hate speech involves racial and ethnic slurs when referring to the members of a group. Other examples may include jokes that demean or ridicule a particular group or speeches by members of organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan or the Christian Identity Church, that demonize groups such as blacks, Jews, or Hispanics by depicting them as animals or sub-humans (Boeckman and Jeffrey, 2002).

Most nations have laws that restrict offensive speech, including words targeted at vulnerable groups. Germany and France, for example, prohibit many expressions of hate. The German statutes, introduced after World War II, prohibit many Nazi symbols as well as statements of Holocaust denial. More recently, expansions of legal restrictions on speech include a much broader ban on various forms and targets of hate speech.

By contrast, the United States has a tradition of safeguarding individual rights as codified in a constitutional amendment protecting freedom of expression. U.S. courts have consistently found that hate speech, while extremely offensive, does not violate the First Amendment. In 1992, in a widely cited decision, R.A.V. v. the City of St. Paul, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a local community ordinance prohibiting cross burning was unconstitutional, because it interfered with expressions of free speech (Boeckman and Jeffrey, 2002). Moreover, unlike most other countries, the United States has powerful advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, whose mandate requires that it assist in preserving the First Amendment. As a result, American popular culture is free to be as hate-filled and offensive as its producers wish. Hate speech continues to be heard in both Europe and America, so one approach is no more effective than the other.

Late in the 1980s hate speech became a concern on U.S. college campuses, resulting in ...