Temple 1

Tori Temple
03/16/16
Comp 1312
Mr. Beavers
Toulmin method
Lets Argue Speech
Freedom of speech should not be taken for granted on campus because in other parts of
our world people are willing to die for the cause of speaking out for their cause. But here in
America, freedom of speech is taken for granted. 70% of Americans agreed that people should
have the right to free speech, even if their words are highly offensive. Although 70 percent of
Americans think this, I think this could be going to a certain degree. Freedom of speech on
campus needs to be taken seriously with certain limitations.
In my claim I have stated that there needs to be certain limitations to freedom of speech
on campus. I feel I need to make this claim for several reasons such as harassment, vulgar
language, and annoying. The definition of a hate speech is a speech that attacks, threatens, or
insults a person or group on the basis of national origin, ethnicity, color, religion, gender, gender
identity, sexual orientation, or disability (dictionary.com). Evidence to support this claim is
from an article Free Speech on Campus. This article has a really good example of a hate
speech, it explains at the university of Maryland, fraternity member wrote an email saying
Fellow fraternity brothers seeking sex with young women to f**consent and instructed them
not to invite n**gals or curry monsters or slanted eyed chicks, unless theyre hot (Glazer 2).
The president of the university basically found that the email is protected under the first
amendment, and that there was nothing he could do. While others think there should be more

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freedom to speak freely on campus, the faculty is concerned with hurting peoples feelings.
Nobody wants to start riots and big arguments, so how can we not let this affect our freedom of
speech. To the University of Wisconsin, you cant stop speaking out without someone taking it to
heart. University of Wisconsin System leaders approved a resolution Friday affirming free
speech and academic freedom, joining colleges across the country that have officially proclaimed
their devotion to free expression amid concerns academia is trying to protect students from being
offended (RICHMOND 1).
Although hate speeches are awful and need to be banned, freedom of speech can also be
very unfair on school campuses due to the fact that faculty feel as if they should limit freedom of
speech to a minimum. Reasons being to make everyone on campus to feel comfortable and safe
on campus. To have freedom of speech is to say what you want not knowing that it can be hurtful
and mean to others. To the University of Wisconsin, you cant stop speaking out without
someone taking it to heart. University of Wisconsin System leaders approved a resolution
Friday affirming free speech and academic freedom, joining colleges across the country that have
officially proclaimed their devotion to free expression amid concerns academia is trying to
protect students from being offended (RICHMOND 1).
I feel that school involvement is very important. Some people think it is annoying that the
school can tell them where to speak in speak zone. I You should not have to feel confined to
stand up for what you believe in, unlike Anthony Kern a representative said when he was
younger working with a church group that wanted to hand out material at Glendale Community
College during July 4th activities. Kern said there was no problem for the first few years. All of
a sudden, they came up with this free speech zone which was way away from the people, which
to him defeated the whole purpose (Fischer 5).

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Many people and students take freedom of speech to a whole different level. From a
personal point of view, being in college I expected some people coming to my campus to tell us
students how we are evil. These people were so caught up in the belief of how our generation is
horrible, evil, and disrespectful that they decided to leave out what would be good about us. I for
one did not applicate them coming here to tell me that I was a bad person. They were saying so
many mean things about us students that they had to be protected by our campus policy. They
caused a scene and almost a riot. Although the constitution states in the first amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the presspeople will still tell you
college universities are unfair. Everyone intake on how the universities freedom of speech policy
has different meanings. Since this will be a forever ongoing topic I think students and
universities faculty should take everything about our constitution seriously.

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Work Cited
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Glazer, Sarah. Free Speech on Campus. CQ Researcher. CQ Press. 8 May. 2015. Web. 09 Feb.
2016
Fischer, Howard. "Bill Would Ban College Free Speech Zones." Arizona Capital Times.
Capital Media Service, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.
Richmond, Todd. "Students Wont Be Shielded from Ideas They May Not like." University of
Wisconsin Proclaims Freedom of Speech. N.p., 11 Dec. 2015. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.
https://itsbosh.com/2015/04/02/common-arguments-against-free-speech-how-to-obliterate-them/