People need rotection from hate speech
Hate Speech should not be tolerated. Essay No. 3 In his argument "Should This Student Have Bee n Expelled?" Nat Hentoff is against the expulsion of Doug Hann from Brown University. In the letter to the editor Vartan Gregorian says Brown University has never expelled anyone for free speech, no r will it ever do so. Hentoff opposes Gregorian saying that Doug Hann was expelled for the unsavor y content of his speech, and not for his actions. He used Art Spitzer's (legal director of the ACLU
's National Capital Area affiliate) simple test to support his statement. Hentoff blames Brown Univ
ersity by saying that the Brown Code or the rules are vague and ambiguous. He says that Brown Code should be made clearer. We can agree with Hentoff's point that the penalty-bearing provisions of B rown University are vague. The Brown code should be made clearer so that the students and teachers applying for admission or employment at Brown will know what they are getting into. Gregorian's commitment to free speech and condemnation of racism and homophobia are well known from the letter to the editor. The case of Doug Hann is quite complex in that it exists on a fine line between hate
ful speech and hateful speech that confronts and insults others. Hann crossed the line betwe en merely freedom of speech and hateful speech that directly confronted and insulted other undergra duates. Freedom of Speech is necessary, but allowing hateful speech that directly confronts and ins ults others tends to worsen the overall situation for minority groups. It is oftentimes impossible
or dangerous for minority members to try to respond to hate speech directed at them. People need p rotection from hate speech. If we care about the quality of life, we have to be in favor of some fo
rm of censorship of freedom of speech. Many campuses are noticing a rise in the number of incident s of hate-ridden speech directed at minorities, gays, lesbians and others in the last few decades.
