{"id":43943,"date":"2018-06-05T13:27:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T20:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=43943"},"modified":"2018-06-05T13:27:05","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T20:27:05","slug":"forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget \u2018free speech\u2019 on campus, this debate is about free people"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

It has now become customary for academics to debate the line between free speech and hate speech. Yale, for instance, recently hosted a panel discussion whose central topic<\/a> was the difference between hate speech and free speech and \u201cthe point where one shifts into the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The distinction has already been debated throughout the academy, with university presidents<\/a>, students<\/a> on both coasts<\/a>, and even linguist<\/a> George Lakoff asserting that hate speech is not free speech (in other words, that hate speech should be censored).<\/p>\n

This framing of the debate \u2013 as a distinction between free speech and hate speech \u2013 is unfortunate. \u201cHate speech\u201d is fundamentally a type <\/em>of speech or a mode <\/em>of discourse. Whether or not speech is hateful <\/em>depends on the intention of the speaker, or at times, the effects that it has on its audience. \u201cHate speech\u201d can be meaningfully juxtaposed against other phenomena in this family, such as \u201cpolitical\u201d or \u201ccontroversial\u201d speech \u2013 whether or not speech is \u201cpolitical\u201d or \u201ccontroversial\u201d depends strongly on the intent and context of the utterance). However, \u201cfree speech\u201d is not a type of speech in this way.<\/p>\n

The term \u201cfree speech\u201d probably comes from the US Bill of Rights, which is concerned with delineating rights that the government does not<\/em> have. The first amendment declares that Congress has no <\/em>right to pass laws abridging freedom of speech. Here, \u201cfreedom of speech\u201d refers to the freedom of people<\/em> to speak without governmental interference.<\/p>\n

Rather than consistently referring to people, however, we customarily shorten \u201cfreedom of people to speak\u201d to \u201cfree speech.\u201d Although punchy, this shortening suggests that it is speech<\/em>, rather than people<\/em>, that can be free or unfree. But in fact, restrictions on speech are restrictions on people. Consequently, we ought to be having a debate about people.<\/p>\n

Now, one might (incorrectly<\/a>) believe that freedom of speech only helps the powerful. One might (incorrectly<\/a>) believe that students\u2019 views are easily swayed by allegedly immoral speakers. One might feel a sense of obligation to protect students<\/a> from the stress or hurt that they might feel when confronted with provocative views.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, when we empower and encourage administrators to determine what forms of speech are acceptable on campus, our own freedoms are undermined.<\/p>\n

Any academic rule that abridges the freedom of speech enhances the ability of others to exercise arbitrary power over us. We are demoted from a \u201cfree\u201d to a \u201ccensored\u201d (or at least, \u201ccensorable\u201d) status. And, as progressives are rediscovering, bureaucrats and administrators interested in maintaining a pristine brand<\/a> for their institution are perhaps more likely to censor provocative people on the left than on the right when empowered to do so.<\/p>\n

Therefore, regardless of your own political commitments, ask yourself: when do you want administrators to have the right to censor you<\/em>? Keep in mind that granting them the power to censor you implies permission to surveil<\/a> as well, monitoring what you write in emails, what you post on Twitter, and your interactions with university stakeholders, both on campus and beyond.<\/p>\n

These realities become much clearer when the discussion is shifted from discussing \u201cfree speech\u201d to undermining the rights of people<\/em> to express themselves freely. Restrictions aren\u2019t being imposed on speech \u2013 they\u2019re being imposed on people.<\/p>\n

Faculty, consider when it is appropriate for your colleagues or your dean to regulate your freedom before you request the disinvitation of someone else. And when you get involved in a campus discussion about this issue, please discard \u201cfree speech\u201d and talk about free people instead. I suspect the conversations will be much richer and more productive.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Chris Martin is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). He received his PhD in sociology from Emory Uiversity and serves on the executive committee of Heterodox Academy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has now become customary for academics to debate the line between free speech and hate speech. Yale, for instance, recently hosted a panel discussion whose central topic was the difference between hate speech and free speech and \u201cthe point where one shifts into the other.\u201d The distinction has already been debated throughout the academy, […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":43944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[12681],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-43943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-free-speech-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nForget \u2018free speech\u2019 on campus, this debate is about free people - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forget \u2018free speech\u2019 on campus, this debate is about free people - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It has now become customary for academics to debate the line between free speech and hate speech. Yale, for instance, recently hosted a panel discussion whose central topic was the difference between hate speech and free speech and \u201cthe point where one shifts into the other.\u201d The distinction has already been debated throughout the academy, […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-05T20:27:05+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/hate-speech.png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"453\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Forget \u2018free speech\u2019 on campus, this debate is about free people\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-05T20:27:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":638,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/06\\\/hate-speech.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Free speech\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Higher Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/forget-free-speech-on-campus-this-debate-is-about-free-people\\\/\",\"name\":\"Forget \u2018free speech\u2019 on campus, this debate is about free people - 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