Professor Woodworth
English Composition 102
9/30/14
Source Analysis of The Threat To Free Speech at Universities One of the aspects that separate my generation from those in the past is that anyone with a computer can be a journalist and provide news. People still have access to news outlets such as MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN, but also a person can get news from their conspiracy theorist friend on Facebook. With a smorgasbord of choices, people need to be aware of three categories when reading an article. The article needs to be authoritative, reliable, and relevant. Being authoritative means that the author has years of training, or schooling in a specific subject. Being reliable means that the author has included all the …show more content…
The author, Greg Lukianoff, is more than qualified to talk about both those subjects. Lukianoff earned degrees from American University and Stanford Law School(88). By going to these two prestigious universities, Lukianoff has the trust of his audience to talk about the happenings in a university. Also, Lukianoff is an attorney and he is the President of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education(88). Lukianoff also writes for the Huffington Post and has written several articles about Free Speech and has appeared on CNN, CBS News, and Fox News to discuss free speech (Foundation For the Individual Rights in Education). Having credentials such as intensive schooling, job experience, and appearing on network news to discuss your viewpoints make Greg Lukianoff an authoritative figure on free speech in …show more content…
Lukianoff stays on the topic of free speech in college for the duration of the article. Even though the examples he gave for harassment are around eight years old the examples are still relevant today. He mentioned how a student at Tufts University wrote an unflattering article about Islamic extremism; that example is still relevant in 2014 due to ISIS. The UCF example is about a writer calling a potential student government official a “jerk and a fool” (88). Both examples tie into the discussion because they represent opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of free speech. Lukianoff did a good job of having the article be relevant with his examples. In order to have an effective article, it must be authoritative, reliable, and relevant. Greg Lukianoff has the degrees and job experience as an attorney to be an authoritative source on the subject of free speech. On the other hand, his argument about free speech is too one sided and, therefore, is not reliable. However, he provides relevant examples about free speech crimes in colleges across the United