General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Limits of Free Speech [View all]COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)My speech is fine but I'm not so sure about yours. And if you say something that really grates on me, well, maybe you shouldn't be allowed to say that.
The law does not protect people from rude, crude, or offensive speech. The whole "hate speech" issue is like trying to nail Jello to a tree. But when a college kid gets buzzed and, trying to curry favor from his 'superiors' while desperately trying to get accepted into a club sings a stupid racist ditty that's probably been around since his Grandfather was in short pants it becomes a case not for some reasonable punishment but Ground Zero expulsion, no questions asked. The University's problem here was that it's a State school so it's a government actor and therefore constrained in actions like this by the protections of the First Amendment. If it had been Harvard, they could have tossed the boys without a fare-thee-well.