I agree with Derek Bok when he describes what should be considered as free speech and what shouldn’t be. There are so many different views of what free speech is just because many people have different personal convictions. Who is to say what constitutes freedom of speech and what doesn’t. Like Bok states, our country has set up some limitations such as laws against defacing property, or indicting those who commit slander or libel, but in the case of the Harvard kids, there is no law that states you can’t express your pride in something because it offends other people.
If this were to happen on IPFW’s campus, I don’t think that the campus officials would be able to do anything about it. Freedom of speech is protected by the First Amendment, even if it does offend them. As long as it isn’t defacing private or public property then it should be allowed. It is the same thing as if I were to display a huge cross in the front of my yard displaying my belief in Jesus Christ. Some people don’t believe in Him and it contradicts their religion. I wouldn’t want the city to come and tell me that I have to take it down just because my neighbors are offended. You have to take something you are passionate for and put it in place of that to understand what the boys MAY have possibly felt about the Confederate Flag or the swastika.
Of course I have run into something like this before. My senior year in high school, someone was suspended in the junior grade for something controversial, it escapes me at the moment, but I remember that the girl’s “sentencing” was debatable. Students who were her friends wore shirts one day that said “Free ____” and then the girl’s name. They were told to change or they would be suspended as well. Freedom of speech in high school is something that is trampled on in almost all schools, I presume.
In conclusion, freedom of speech should be protected within the limits that have been set for us by our elected government officials. Of course, it is never right to yell fire when there is no fire, but you can’t legally stop one from doing it.
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yeah, high schools really struggle with this issue, and usually over react (mostly from public pressure); but a cross on your lawn, which is private property, is different than a confederate flag or noose hung in a college dorm, as that is the university's property. These are hard arguments, and what I don't get is why people get so offensive in the first place. My own experience is that it just puts their own ignorance on display - I wrote a book about the KKK and one common denominator was how limited these people's education was and their world view was confined only to their very very limited experiences. Would have been sad if it weren't so pathetic.
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