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Maguire Strong

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010, Section 4

12 April 2019

Free Speech: Shutting Down Controversial Speakers

“​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 peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Declaration of Independence (US 1776). These rights have been infringed upon on college

campuses, individual speakers have been violently protested against and forced off of campuses

due to controversial beliefs.​ ​This has become a trend lately, with eleven cases of speakers being

“shouted down” have occurred just in 2018 (The College Fix). Looking at the history of protests,

peaceful protesting, what the events are about and who puts them on, banning speakers, speech

codes and safe spaces. These issues need to be looked at and resolved for the sake of our country

and our individual right to free speech.

Protests have a long history in this country, Protesting Great Britain's tax laws is actually

what led to the creation of our great country. There have been many successful protests and

marches in the United States from the Million Man March where an estimates 850,000 people

gathered to listen to speakers such as rose parks and reverend jesse jackson, to the Anti-Nuclear

march in New York where over one million americans gathered to call for denuclearization and

an end to the arms race during the Cold War (Barber). So, what is the difference between some

of these protests and what is happening now? Older protests were usually aimed to be peaceful
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and change the other sides minds, these protests are completely protected under the first

amendment and help bring awareness and attention to an issue and hope to peacefully resolve

that problem. These are not the kinds of protests being done on college campuses against these

speakers. Modern use of protests include individuals banding together and becoming very loud

and most cases violent in order to shut down the opposing viewpoints; forcing the speakers at

these events to shut down. This form of protesting is known as the “Heckler's Veto” and is

usually done against a government official that allows a hostile audience to silence their speech

(Hudson). Peacefully protesting and using your voice to oppose views of others is drastically

different than banding together and yelling nonsense and threats just to shutdown someone you

do not agree with.

A peaceful use of protesting is a very effective method to show you do not agree with the

opinions being presented. Although you are protesting and do not agree with the other opinions

becoming violent and shutting down those opinions is not the way to deal with opposing views.

Peaceful protests allow both sides of the argument to have an opinion and let people learn from

both sides are grow, this is why many of the events that come to campuses allow for a open

Q&A session so anyone who opposes the views expressed during the event is able to come up

and ask the speakers questions. Unfortunately the events that were shut down never were able to

open the floor to those who did not agree due to the violence in the protests.

A lot of these speakers who have been attacked have been more conservative speakers.

Since the election of our president Donald J. Trump there has been a rise in hatred for

conservatives and right wing individuals; as a result, a rise in pride and people being more

upfront about their political identity. This increase in people taking pride in their beliefs has led
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to an increase of right wing speakers as well as an increase in people wanting these events

silenced and shut down and an overall increase in violent protests (Fig. 1). Individuals such as

Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley during their free speech week who were shouted down and

forced to leave (The College Fix). A lot of the events that get shouted down stand against BLM

(Black Lives Matter), pro free speech, anti-immigration, or even something as simple as posters

that say “Its Okay To Be White”.

Some colleges

have gone as far

as to ban certain

speakers without

them ever

planning to go to

the school or ban

them from ever

coming back after

they put on an

event. Speakers

like Ben Shapiro,

Bassem Eid, and

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even rappers, like George Washington and Action Bronson, whos lyrics are deemed

“misogynistic” or “hateful” have been uninvited to a booked event or told to never come back to

the schools they were at and the list goes on and on (Jackson). Banning speakers before they can

even show up has just added to the flames and made some speakers want to now perform at that

school. Such as the conservative comedy show host Steven Crowder was banned from DePaul

university and said “This is that equal and opposite reaction, we never planned on going to

DePaul now we heard we were banned and I think I want to go to DePaul like we have to now.”

DePaul has a history of banning conservative thoughts and ideas from entering their campus, but

by doing so they are only provoking those individuals.

Why are these events being attacked, what about these speakers is so angering that

individuals feel the need to react so violently. Several of the events targeted are free speech and

first amendment related such as the ACLU free speech event at William & Mary, the civil

discourse and free speech rally at UCLA, and an attempt to shut down the CUNY speech about

the importance of free speech on campus (The College Fix). Many colleges are starting to enact

speech codes which regulate what can and can not be said on campuses. A report was released on

speech codes on college campuses and out of the 466 major universities selected 28.5 percent of

the policies are in direct violation of the students first amendment rights, and 61.2 percent had at

least one violation of the first amendment. (FIRE). These codes will protect the “politically

correct” students from any speech that is deemed offensive by the college. When outside groups

come to these schools advocating for complete free speech those in support of any speech codes

in place will protest those speakers.

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Many colleges have put into place “safe spaces” it is a community of people who feel

marginalized and come together to create a space where ideas that are deemed offensive against

them are not allowed. A poll was taken about how students really feel about safe spaces on

campus and the results are split pretty even with 37 percent saying no safe spaces are completely

out of touch from reality, while 36 percent said yes safe spaces are absolutely necessary

(Brown). These safe spaces lead people to believe that no one can say offensive things to them

on campus and that they need a place to be sheltered from those ideas or opinions deemed as

offencive. These safe spaces repress the ideas of open dialog and sharing of ideas individuals are

not allowed to invade these safe spaces and challenge their ideas. Sharing of ideas leads to

growth and shutting down freedom of speech in these spaces of campus will not help the students

grow their minds and shape their opinions.

As a country we thrive on the ability to share ideas and are protected under the first

amendment to do so. We can no longer allow individuals to shut down controversial speakers

ideas need to be spread on college campuses so students are able to grow and form their own

opinions and views on the world. There is no need to protest violently, we need to do away with

safe spaces and speech codes that limit students ability to express themselves on campus, no

more banning speakers before they are able to speak, we need more peaceful use of protests and

more speakers who offer an open platform for ideas.

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Barber, Megan. “Here's Where the 8 Biggest Protests in U.S. History Took Place.” ​Curbed,​

Curbed, 19 Jan. 2017,

www.curbed.com/2017/1/19/14311548/marches-protests-locations-united-states-history.

Brown, Mike. “What Do College Students Think About Safe Spaces?” ​LendEDU,​ 20 Mar. 2019,

lendedu.com/blog/college-students-think-safe-spaces/.

College Fix Staff, April 24, 2018. “11 Times Campus Speakers Were Shouted down by Leftist

Protesters This School Year.” ​The College Fix​, 24 Apr. 2018,

www.thecollegefix.com/11-times-campus-speakers-were-shouted-down-by-leftist-protest

ers-this-school-year/​.

Crowder, Steven. ​YouTube,​ YouTube, 21 Feb. 2018,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RNOWnYJWxI.

FIRE. “Speech Code Reports.” ​FIRE​, www.thefire.org/spotlight/reports/.

Hudson, David L. “Controversial Campus Speakers.” ​Freedom Forum Institute,​ Apr. 2017,

www.freedomforuminstitute.org/first-amendment-center/topics/freedom-of-speech-2/free

-speech-on-public-college-campuses-overview/campus-speakers/.

Jackson, Abby. “'Disinvitations' for College Speakers Are on the Rise - Here's a List of People

Turned Away This Year.” ​Business Insider​, Business Insider, 28 July 2016,

www.businessinsider.com/list-of-disinvited-speakers-at-colleges-2016-7.