Hate-Speech Code Could Face Obstacles

ABC News on Campus reporter Walter Storholt blogs: University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles has hired a committee to investigate ways to block hate speech on the system’s 16 campuses. But a senior staff attorney for the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law says his wishes might be tough to carry out. “It’s very difficult for a university to craft a code in advance that describes all  the speech that is concerning,” says Jason Kay. The think tank provides education about constitutional issues. He says the difficulties arise in how people determine what is hate speech because what is offensive to some is not to others. The very definition of hate speech can change over time. “You can’t be so specific as to say this content is prohibited, but this content is permitted,” he says. However, on the other hand, if the law is too broad it can be vague and ineffective. “The trick with hate speech is to try to find something in the middle,” says Kay. Bowles’ call for a look at a hate speech code last week came after students put material on North Carolina State’s Free Expression Tunnel.  The material, including depictions of  President-elect Barack Obama’s being assassinated and racist language, went up on a wall on the Raleigh campus shortly after Obama won the election. The Free Expression Tunnel is an underground walkway on NC State’s campus and has traditionally been used for students to display opinions and ideas. “The Constitution has carved out a space for people to say things that others find offensive,” says Kay. And even if it is a large number of people that find it offensive, he says, “they’re still allowed to say it.” The Secret Service examined the tunnel and determined that the drawings were not a serious threat.   But that finding does not satisfy the NAACP. The organization is urging Bowles to act swiftly and push through measures that would restrict hate speech, whether it is threatening or not. However, the ACLU of North Carolina disagrees with the proposed hate speech code. In a letter to  Bowles, the ACLU states, “Where racist speech is concerned, more speech — not less — is the best cure.” The ACLU says more speech is important at universities “whose mission is to facilitate learning through open debate and study.” Officials at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University say  there are hundreds of similar hate speech codes at universities across the country. However, many of those are at private universities. The hate speech code at Emory University, a private school in Atlanta, prohibits any speech or conduct that “creates an intimidating, hostile  or offensive educational environment.” Other universities with codes prohibit speech that "inflicts emotional distress." Codes have traditionally been much more difficult to pass in public university systems. In the late ’80s and early’ 90s, the courts rejected speech codes at the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin.