The university is the place to which a thousand schools make contributions; in which the intellect may safely range and.
speculate, sure to find its equal in some antagonist activity, and its judge in the tribunal of truth. It is a place where inquiry is .
pushed forward, and discoveries verified and perfected, and rashness rendered innocuous, and error exposed, by the collision of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge.
---John Henry Newman, The idea of a university (1854).
In America, freedom of expression has always been an important issue. America was .
built on liberty, and because American people had always fought for freedom of expression the .
country has remained a democracy to this very day. The First Amendment of the constitution .
states "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 press, or the right of the people .
peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". The first .
amendment allows people to express their views on a variety of topics such as religion, .
government, injustice, and most about anything else. United States is a democracy and ideas .
should always be allowed to be expressed. One would expect a university to promote freedom of .
expression but that has not been the case. In the last several decades universities all around the .
country have placed restrictions on speech on both students and faculty. These restrictions come .
in a set of guidelines called speech codes. Speech codes in universities deprive students and .
faculty of freedom of speech and expression.
.
Speech codes prohibit certain forms of speech both in the classroom and out class situtations. This kind of speech is that which "demeans groups or individuals on the basis of their particular status, race, ethnicity, gender, disability , etc.