Changed my mind about campus speech codes after a talk at UNC

I used to think speech codes were a good way to keep things civil on campus, but after a student speaker got shut down at UNC last spring for a joke about parking, I saw how vague rules can backfire. The administration enforced a policy against "disrespectful conduct" and the student got a warning, even though no one was offended. Has anyone else had a similar experience where a speech rule ended up punishing something harmless?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaron89613d ago

Wait, was the joke actually about parking or did the admin just use that as an excuse to silence a student they didn't like? Because at my school, the rule says "no offensive language" but last year they slapped a guy with a warning for calling the football team's performance trash after a loss. How do you even tell the difference between a rule that protects people and one that just lets admins punish whatever they personally find annoying?

lopez.brooke12d ago

@aaron896 gotta disagree man, parking jokes are just parking jokes, not a free pass.