How “Free” Should Your Free Speech Be On Campus?
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LONG BEACH, CA. Here at Cal State Long Beach, free speech has recently been a hot topic with the most recent controversial event (police threatened to arrest students on campus who were practicing their first amendment right to protest, October 29, 2022). The students were revolutionary Communists that feel like the U.S. government should be completely dismantled and overthrown. Students expressed their disdain towards the officers, and were feeling as though their first amendment right was not being respected. The conflict between students and campus authorities made me wonder if certain forms of speech that were seemingly controversial were more likely to get shut down; so I asked students on campus what they thought on the topic, and they had some very interesting perspectives to share.
“An important part of college is expressing yourself, so limiting free speech on campus can be very harmful to students as a community and our level of creativity, especially at our young age, we need the freedom to speak to assist our development,” said student, Nathaly Abonce.
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Many students that were interviewed expressed this same sentiment, but there were some students that did not feel the same way. Some students expressed that free speech on campus should be limited in order to protect groups of students that may be harmed by certain forms of speech.
Student Jacqueline Mazariegos said it best when she explains that, “people need to be retaught its [free speech] definition…it can be something extremely positive, but recently people have been using free speech to discriminate against others and thinking it’s okay because it's ‘their right’”.
No answer can be identified as right or wrong, but there is room to meet in the middle. Students have expressed the right for free speech on campus, but also the need for limitation when it comes to certain forms of speech, such as when it incites hate. As of now, there is no current limit of free speech on campus, but if you want more information on CSULB’s policy on free speech, please visit the link provided.
