Freedom of Speech on College Campuses. Research Paper

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Freedom of Speech on College Campuses
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear” (Orwell, 1989). The expression of opinions without any restraints from the government or the authorities is what we call freedom of speech. It is one of the principles of democracy, where people experience freedom and equality, which started in ancient Greece. “Parrhesia” is the ancient Greek word for “free speech” or “to candidly speak”. During this period, philosophers, authorities, writers, dramatists, and common people practiced parrhesia in discussing political and religious stands and criticizing the performance of their government (History.com Editors, 2017). The United States of America has applied the same rights in the protection of basic human liberties, which includes the right to freedom of speech. The First Amendment was created and included in the constitution which involves expression, speech, and peaceful assemblies, basically, making sure that any person, whether a civilian or with a position, can express ideas, opinions, and information (Oglethorpe, 2018). Freedom of speech is considered as democracy’s lifeblood. This involves various forms of communication, may it be speeches to artistic works and other types of media, expressing extremes of viewpoints with the guarantee that government authorities would not interfere or censor the contents (History.com Editors, 2017).
The right to freedom of speech has become controversial to a lot of people, causing debates, heated arguments, and a great divide between groups of people with different beliefs. Various stands regarding political parties, race, sexual orientation, sexual preference, and religion, are the usual topics of these types of conversations (Lindsay, 2019). The freedom of speech is extensive and can be used in various ways, both in positive and negative ways, so there are still some exceptions made to make sure that the rights and autonomy of another person is still protected while the freedom of speech and expression of another is exercised. Due to the large-scale coverage of the freedom of speech, the Supreme Court has decided to draw clearer guidelines regarding which ones are allowed or which are prohibited. The forms of speech that are not protected by the First Amendment are immoral and indecent materials, child pornography, for instance, any kind of plagiarism of copyrighted materials, slander or libel damaging the reputation of another person, and true threats. Speech encouraging any illegal activity or solicitation of other people to commit unlawful crimes are also not included under the protection of the First Amendment (History.com Editors, 2017). These limitations were realized to be necessary because of the possible danger and violence that may affect even the national security.
College universities were the ones who upheld the right to freedom of speech during the earlier centuries but in the present times, issues with right to the freedom of speech are rampant most especially in these institutions. There are also differences noted with the policies and impl...