There is often the discussion about free speech on many college campuses and if students are able to speak their minds. Classrooms and quads paint the picture of “safe zones,” environments that allow students to be free from backlash or retaliation from a differing opinion. However, there seems to be a blurred perception of what is actually offensive or just taken out of context. The question that presents itself is where and when can students speak there opinion.
The Advent of the “Free Speech Zone”
Colleges across the country, such as Longwood University, found it necessary to create a “free speech zone” on campus. This was the space students could use to speak their mind, speak their beliefs, and protest their opposition. Does this mean classrooms, essays, and blog posts are off limits and the student must conform to the majorities opinion, which could vary depending on the professor. Greg Lukianoff, in his article in the Huffington Post puts it this way, “…It’s actually a backwards way of saying that more than 99 percent of that campus is a ‘censorship zone’.”
From experience, these zones become less about students speaking their mind and more about radical local organizations condemning the actions and beliefs of Generation Y. Recently the Commonwealth of Virginia just passed legislation banning the so called “free speech zones.” The Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) commended Governor McAuliffe for the passing of the bill. FIRE supports the passing of the bill because it no longer limits student debate to a single space. This is eye opening, especially to students, but it brings about another question: Will students speak up?
Speaking Comfortably, Questionable
Although students are free to speak their mind anywhere on campus, as long as it remains civil and peaceful, as Justin Pope, the Longwood University President’s Chief of Staff stated in the podcast above, does this mean they will? There is a common problem with this on campuses: nearly everything today can be deemed offensive to someone somewhere. Wendy Kaminer with the Washington Post discusses situations where content in literature used in class discussion was used as ammunition for hate speech. An instance that made the news this month at Binn College in Texas has raised some eyebrows as well. B. Christopher Agee, with the Western Journal, reported that Nicole Sanders, a student at Blinn, was recruiting students for her conservative group on campus. Sanders was approached by Sherri Rich, the Student Leadership and Activities assistant, and asked Sanders to vacate the “free speech zone.” With classic literature brought into question for content and students shut down in the so called “free speech zones” for recruitment, how are students supposed to speak on controversial issues plaguing the world with their professors?
On paper, colleges are proponents of freedom of speech and expression. However, is this truly the case? This post and podcast above have presented listeners and readers with a discussion regarding students comfort level with stating their opinions (this is not including speech which is used to blatantly harm anyone). The issue becomes what is suitable to debate because it seems anything can be taken the wrong way.
With this, we pose these questions to you: Are campuses becoming a hot zone for political correctness, or are they riding the line between free speech and protecting students? Let us know in the comment section your thoughts and experiences with free speech on college campuses and if you feel it comes off as a facade or a true freedom.
Also, post your comments and thoughs on the Facebook at Longwood University Communication Studies and Twitter @LU_COMM.
Remember, we are Comm studies, and this is what we do.
Mariah McCormick
February 24, 2015
On February 17th Travis Lyles, a mass media concentration student in the communication studies department, published an opinion piece on the couch burning that took place on Monday evening at Longwood University. While he is an incredible writer, the major issue I see with this particular publication was that Lyles presented this information as a Longwood crisis. Considering there were numerous backlashes from the student body toward this article, it is safe to say that not all the stakeholders agree, and after all crises are perceptual. Erik Obst posed a very important question on the communication studies podcast concerning whether or not students feel comfortable when speaking their mind on campus. As a fellow communication studies major, I have been blessed with a small classroom environment and a very personal connection with all of my professors, so in many cases I would say yes to this question with no hesitation. However with this infamous scandal my answer is not so confident. With fellow peers, figures of authority and my greek life reputation at stake I was incredibly suppressed and hurt that for the first time in my four years here at Longwood I felt as if I could not speak my opinion.
Travis Lyles is a senior here at Longwood as well as a member of a Greek organization. Many students look up to him and expect him to cover important topics in the school newspaper, The Rotunda. Though it was assumed that this story would be covered, the negativity in the piece violated many of the students’ expectations. Justin Pope drew upon important facts in his interview during the podcast. One of which is the fact that journalists are not protected from comments made by others and are held accountable for whatever they may write. When I saw that the communication studies interns were challenging others to take advantage of their free speech and comment their opinions I was surprised because I thought as a whole there was a fair amount of comments and opinions already. I personally read them on Facebook primarily but heard rumor that they were also on a popular social media, “Yik Yak”. As a public relations concentration I resist the urge at vomiting when I heard that Longwood students are still paying attention to Yik Yak, let alone an educated journalist on campus. It is so important to differentiate between legitimate comments and concerns versus nonsense from trolls on such sites as these. Rather, the students wish to here feedback and because these comments, questions and concerned were ignored by the journalist the situation escalated and gained momentum.
Lyles proposed that these incidents damages Longwood’s ethos and how this may deter potential students. According to W. Timothy Coombs, stakeholders are more likely to draw from indirect methods of reputation management rather than direct. This poses a serious threat to Longwood’s recruitment process because one of their students is claiming this event is worth such recognition. Again I looked at this through a public relations lens as well as a fellow classmate of Travis’ and asked myself “Why would he do this to his own school? But it’s Travis, he must know what’s best right?” Alumni made several comments by saying the couch burning participants “lacked maturity” and that hiring managers would not consider candidates that participated in this event. Again I questioned myself “How would these employers even have knowledge of this event and or take it so seriously had Travis not published this piece?” This in effect, caused me to hesitate from speaking my opinion.
Greek life is a huge part of my life here at Longwood and is another reason I do not always feel like I have the freedom of speech on campus. Having previously held the Public Relations chair of the College Panhallenic Council I know that my words do not just speak for myself, but are perceived as words from the greek community. Once this article was published I noticed one of my greek advisors commented saying “Just sad…Disappointed is an understatement”. I immediately knew not to comment on the post directly because someone whom I look up to may scrutinize me.
Lastly, the authority figures present on this campus deterred me from taking advantage of my freedom of speech through various means. The first incident was once again on the facebook post of the published article. One of my own professors said, “I am sorry to see such a lack of judgment and defend this as a ‘fun’ tradition.” Knowing that graduation is within my reach and these professors hold the power of my grades, I knew not to post directly on this link so I could not be seen in a different light. Just as Travis spoke about how professors have made off the record comments to him in order not to risk their jobs, I, at first, gave up my right of free speech so I did not risk my grade.
Officer Beach referred to the incident as “disrespectful” and “discourteous”. He goes on record to say, “If you were a part of that I want you to take it as personally as you can take it.” Again I did not feel comfortable commenting on the situation when a figure of authority wanted me to be personally hurt by the way they described the incident.
I can honestly say I had nothing to do with the start of the couch burning on February 25th. I do not know for certain who started the fire or participated in the “block party”. However, I do not believe it should be considered a Longwood crisis and was completely blown out of proportion. I did hesitate when I decided to use my freedom of speech on campus, but despite everything I still love Longwood University and by writing this I can represent some of those who made that possible.
good job boys!