Why Do Speech Codes Increase Discrimination Towards Students?

Throughout history there has always been a problem with the discrimination of people of different color, sexual orientation, gender, and other historically persecuted groups in the United States. The solution that colleges, including Hillsborough Community College to prevent any discrimination towards students in which they have started to implement speech codes that regulate what can and cannot be said on campuses. Under the 1st amendment all speech is protected no matter how offensive or hurtful they might be and these speech codes violate these students’ rights. The policies at HCC towards hate speech also infringe on students ' right of freedom of speech and expression. One of the main points that is promoted is that college allows students to freely express their views and opinions to create a more diverse environment. Even one of the policies in the student handbook at HCC under disruptive conduct states “Intentionally interfering with the freedom of expression of others.” Which is a contradiction to the other policies which have profane expressions under “Harassment/Stalking.” Based on all of the policies students only have freedom of expression that is politically correct and does not offend other students. Colleges are only encouraging censorship by protecting the expressions in …show more content…
A better solution would be to go back to what colleges wanted in the beginning an environment of free flowing ideas and knowledge. Offensive expressions and ideas are best dealt with open debate and discussion instead of censorship. As Harvey Silverglate and Greg Lukianoff state, “Having one’s beliefs challenged is not a regrettable side effect of openness and intellectual diversity, but an essential part of the educational