Free Speech vs. Harmful Hate Speech Freedom of speech is instilled at the beginning of the Bill of Rights and it allows citizens of the United States to express their opinions without being afraid of what might happen to them, much like in other countries. Many times people are directly or indirectly harmed by others’ actions that are considered a right under the freedom of speech clause. Though, some people worry that if we do not allow for complete freedom of speech, it is hard to figure out what the limits are. So how can we distinguish between what is covered under our freedom of speech right and what is not if there are no limits? Freedom of speech is a constitutional right given to every citizen, entitling them to voice their …show more content…

This issue becomes harder to deal with when applied to campus speech codes. Supporters of speech codes argue that individuals agree to abide by certain rules and regulations when they attend a college and that a primary goal of a college is to provide a safe environment for the exchange of ideas. From these premises, they draw support for the adoption of speech codes as a component of campus ordinances aimed at ensuring that individuals feel secure when they are attending school. Many, argue though that by censoring hate speech, colleges limit the exchange of ideas and perform in a manner that is contrary to the goal of education. However, when students are negatively affected by what they see or what is said to them by other’s on their campus, it becomes a problem. Hate speech also creates a hostile environment and limits the ability of students to obtain what they are attending school for. Even though we have freedom to speak about what we want, such as religion, race, and politics, many students take it too far on campuses. Hate speech on campuses is a major issue these days, because when a student says something, they can always bring up the fact that it is in the constitution that they can state and say their opinions. It becomes increasingly difficult when people on campus do not directly target a certain person, rather they target a group of individuals and they say that they can do it because it is a right. When