Free Speech on the College Campus Test 2

How might microaggressions be considered an example of victimhood culture?

Concern about microaggressions is just another sign of the political correctness movement on campus. It gives people a chance to express their victimhood.

What factors account for our knowing about so many more incidents of racism than in the past?

Social media, cell phones, photos, and videos really account for our knowledge of so many incidents of racism than was possible for the past.

What do we mean when we speak of a campus with or without socio-economic diversity or opinion diversity?

Socio-Economic Diversity: Public universities tend to be more diverse than private institutions.

Provide three examples of microaggressions.

"Indian giver" "We got gypped" "America is a melting pot" "I'm not racist, I have several black friends"

Chemerinsky provides seven reasons offered by those who would ban hate speech. Identify and briefly explain at least four of those reasons.

#1: Hate speech causes harm to people—including psychological harm and emotional distress. #2: Hate speech is an affront to the dignity of those exposed to it. p #3: Hate speech undermines the confidence of people in the protection of the law. #4: Hate speech is a form of discrimination and so it deserves to be outlawed just like other forms of discrimination.

Identify two arguments to shows that violence from words is the same as violence from physical assault.

Abusive relationships and lasting damage Harm Theory: words can cause harm/damage from psychology

What are the main complaints of liberals and conservatives about what is happening on college campuses?

79 percent of Republicans believe professors are injecting their political and social opinions into the classroom and 75 percent said colleges were overly concerned with protecting students from views they might offensive Three-Quarters of Democrats say they are worried that students are not getting the skills they need to get a job and 9 out of 10 Democrats say college costs too much.

What does the word cosmopolitan mean?

A citizen of the world.

How does the person with global, multi-ethnic experience benefit from a large diverse campus like UNT?

A diverse campus affirms their experience and gives them confidence.

The AAC&U recommends that every person be given the opportunity for a liberal education. What are the components of such an education?

A liberal education prepares a person for work, life, and citizenship. A liberal education is what every person needs to participate fully in American life. Liberal education is global and pluralistic. This is more than completion of a degree. It should also mean" the achievement of broad and in-depth knowledge, the capacity to integrate and apply learning to new situations, and the intellectual creativity and resilience to face challenges."

What do Americans think about issues of race and racism in the United States?

A majority of Americans say racism is a major problem and a larger percentage agrees that racism does in fact exist.

Toward persons in what groups may microaggressions be directed?

A microaggression can be about someone's race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, language, disabilities, and perhaps other characteristics.

Universities typically struggle to attract a diverse faculty. What are some of the reasons why it is difficult to attract and retain a diverse faculty?

A past history of discrimination.

What are true threats and how does the law treat them?

A true threat causes a person to fear for his or her safety. It rests on the idea of a reasonable person standard, rather than a fearful or timid individual. They are prohibited. The true threat must be a physical threat rather than an emotional one, where someone's feelings were brought into play.

How does the Hazelwood Act offer support to the children of veterans in Texas?

Up to 150 credits can go to veterans' children.

How do European nations generally view hate speech?

Americans are less likely than Europeans to favor laws that censor speech.

In recent years, attitudes of conservatives and liberals about colleges and a college education have changed. Please explain the differing views.

As recently as 2015, Republicans thought colleges were positive influences. Currently, more than half of all Republicans think colleges and universities have a net negative effect on the United States. Moreover, younger Republicans are the ones who think the worst. The drop for younger Republicans dropped 21 percent between 2015 and 2018. Both think they're going in the wrong direction.

Could stress be useful in our lives, even if it comes from the comments of others?

But can't stress also help us be stronger, more into the task, even more resilient?

What did Cohen do that got him arrested, and later exonerated?

Cohen had a message on his jacket when he went to court in LA—Blank the draft, Stop the War.

What do we mean by the emotive value of speech rather than the cognitive value?

Courts have acknowledged that speech is more than its cognitive content. Speech has emotive value. This is a purpose of much speech and the emotive and cognitive value cannot be separated.

Who is Laura Kipnis and how was she affected by the campus sexual harassment laws at her university?

Criticized enforcement of Title IX investigations on her campus in an article. Two students said the essay constituted sexual harassment. Kipnis was subjected to a sexual harassment investigation and so was another faculty member who defended Kipnis

What are the problems with speech codes? How have the courts viewed them?

Decades of efforts have shown that such codes are overbroad and vague, including words like demeaning, offensive, stigmatizing, hurtful, and so on. (Example: University of Michigan) The result is that people end up being punished for their political views, which violates the First Amendment Speech codes often end up punishing those they were designed to protect. For example, in many places, black students were brought up on speech code violations much more often than white students.

Explain why the term aggression may be inappropriate when it is used as a microaggression.

Doesn't aggression implies anger, hostility, and even violence. But microaggressions don't contain any of those things. Also, aggression is intentional, but microaggressions are not.

How do university regents in Texas get their jobs? How did Governor Rick Perry influence Texas colleges and universities through the regents?

Every state has some system for selecting regents or trustees for the state's public universities. In Texas, the Governor selects all regents. Governor Rick Perry appointed every regent at every public university, where various appointees donated to his campaign.

What are fighting words?

Fighting words are those which by their very utterance elicit a violent response.

From what tragic event do we trace the legislator's passage of campus carry legislation?

George Hennard, age 35, hated women and drove his truck into a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and killed 23 people, then himself. A concealed carry weapons bill was signed by Governor Bush in 1995. Laws have expanded since that time.

How might rules against hate speech actually result in the speaker becoming more popular?

Highlighting the offensive comments may actually make that person and their comments even more popular. AND—such rules simply do not make people more tolerant. They do, however, make them resentful that their views are not permitted.

What have the courts said about allowing groups on campus and whether universities can refuse to recognize them?

In 1972, Supreme Court said colleges could not refuse to recognize a group because officials had an unproven fear of campus disruption. (This was the case of Healy v. James, and concerned the SDS.) 1981: Supreme Court said in Widmar v. Vincent that it violates the First Amendment to disallow a religious group if it is already allowing secular groups.

How does the person from the small town benefit from a large, diverse campus like UNT?

It is an introduction to a world unlike themselves.

Please be familiar with cases we talked about, including the conflict between two professors at the International Studies Association meeting last year in San Francisco and the issue involving a Yale student who fell asleep in the faculty lounge only to be reported to police by another student.

Ladies lingerie please - ISA case

We took a look at a Chronicle article that details the diversity information for hundreds of campuses, including many in Texas. What were some of the conclusions we drew from that article?

Low minority populations in colleges disproportionate to the population of surrounding society.

Whittington makes the argument that there is a powerful movement on college campuses to change the principles of free speech in the United States. Please briefly explain.

Many people do not subscribe to microaggressions.

Define microaggression.

Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership. It is a term that is credited to the writings of Derald Wing Sue.

How did Obama-era and Trump-era sexual harassment guidelines for colleges differ?

Obama: Accused not provided access to the complainant, evidence, identities of witnesses, or the investigative report. The presumption that complainant was telling the truth Trump: Presumption of innocence for a person against whom the complaint was made. More rights overall for accused, including the right to know the charges, evidence, cross-examination. New guidelines denounced by several groups including the ACLU

Identify and explain two theories of why culture wars exist these days.

One theory: Colleges and universities have become isolated from ordinary people. They have become elitists who concentrate on useless subjects that are just ideas without any real substance. Another idea: Colleges and universities have taken it upon themselves to promote equality over other values in society. They are caught up in identity politics where it is forbidden to express ideas not in accord with those on campus.

In class, we discussed three theories about culture wars. Please review those for the test.

One theory: Colleges and universities have become isolated from ordinary people. They have become elitists who concentrate on useless subjects that are just ideas without any real substance. Another idea: Colleges and universities have taken it upon themselves to promote equality over other values in society. They are caught up in identity politics where it is forbidden to express ideas, not in accord with those on campus. Theory Three: This is the era of have and have not politics.

Catherine Mackinnon is well-known for her efforts to get pornography banned as a form of hate speech. How did pornography constitute hate speech?

Pornography was degrading of women, so it was violence against women = hate speech.

What is the goal of those who would ban hate speech?

Protect minorities

Some state legislators are considering legislation that would give what right to religious groups on campus?

Several state legislatures are considering bills that would allow religious groups on campus to admit only members of that particular group. Impact: Some Christian and other groups would ban LGBTQ students.

We spoke of three types of campus diversity: structural, class/academic, and Informal. Briefly explain each

Structural diversity: extent to which a campus has a diverse population Classes: extent to which course content addresses diversity issues Informal interactional diversity: extent to which the campus provides opportunities for informal interaction across diverse groups (Gurin, 1999).

Please be reminded of the cases of Michael Stuprich and Judy Morelock and the issues in their cases.

Stuprich was a tenured professor and had been at Ithaca College more than 30 years. He and an international student disagreed about a course grade, which ultimately cost him his job and tenure. Judy Morelock taught courses about African-American families as part of her work as an instructor in sociology. A test question spawned a conflict that resulted in the loss of her job and her career.

How are online classes seen as a partial solution to the lack of diversity?

Such courses open up college to those who must work full time, care for family members including children, and deal with illness and/or disabilities. Some of which affect a proportionately larger amount of minorities.

Why would it be reasonable to say that what we now consider hate speech was effectively banned in U.S. history until around the 1960s?

Supreme court cases began protecting speech in the 1960s. The Cohen case of 1970s.

What is the Hazelwood Act and what is the problem with the law as far as public colleges and universities in Texas are concerned?

The Hazelwood Act was approved in 1943. It is not a grant or scholarship. Universities have to absorb the cost of the benefits. The law allows veterans 150 free credit hours at any state public university in Texas. The universities are concerned about the Hazelwood Act because the cost is tremendous. This has become an issue for state universities. They have received some relief from the legislature but view Hazelwood as an unfunded mandate.

What is sexual harassment?

The University of Texas at Austin defines sexual harassment as "[u]nwelcome conduct of a sexual nature." At the University of Rhode Island, "Sexual Harassment is any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature." Pennsylvania State University's policy states: "Sexual Harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is unwanted, inappropriate, or unconsented to."

We saw some data on the views of different age groups in the United States when it comes to hate speech. Please be familiar with that information.

The forty percent of Millennials supporting censoring offensive statements about minorities is the highest of any group. Baby Boomers are just 24%.

To whom is the concept of microaggression credited?

The term "microaggression" is credited to the writings of Derald Wing Sue, Columbia University Teacher's College.

What do we mean when we say there has been a paradigm shift when it comes to how we view the effects of words?

The term paradigm shift refers to a major change in how something is viewed or treated. We have moved from a society in which we were taught to let words roll off our backs to one in which everyone is taught that words have enormous power and cannot be ignored. In the past, we ignored people's words because we knew words could not cause us physical harm. Essentially this is where we still are with the law. People can say mean, hurtful, disrespectful things with impunity until and unless it moves into the realm of threats.

As a faculty member, why is it appropriate for me to distinguish between what I do in my professional zone from what I do in my citizen zone?

There are different guidelines and rules for interactions.

If we say that a rule or restriction has the effect of "chilling" speech, what do we mean?

This chills speech—a term that means that people don't speak up for fear of getting into an argument or being charged with something.

What federal law prohibits sex discrimination in education?

Title IX of the Education Act Amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in education.

Who is Wallace Hall and with whom did he clash as a regent?

Wallace Hall was appointed as the UT regent by Governor Rick Perry and tried to go after the President's powers.

When it comes to microaggressions, why do we say that only impact counts, not intent?

a microaggression has nothing to do with intent (or malicious intent) but rather the impact the words had on the hearer. Most micoaggressions are unintentional. What they reflect, though, is the racist, sexist, or other ideas we hold without being fully aware of our prejudices.