In the articles “Mob Rule on College Campuses” by Cinnamon Stillwell and “Speech Codes: Alive and Well at Colleges” by Harvey A. Silverglate and Greg Lukianoff describe college issues involving the freedom of speech. Both of these articles talk about how freedom of speech can cause many problems in college. Even though these articles are on the same topic, they are on very different forms of freedom of speech. In “Mob Rule on College Campus and in “Speech Codes: Alive and Well at Colleges” both talk about how there is harassment all throughout colleges. But the two pieces of literature talk about two different ways of harassment. Both of the articles talk about bullying, racial harassment, and both talk about how students that are given the freedom of speech change the future.
In “Mob Rule on College Campus” it gives many example of bullying towards public speakers in college. According to the text former liberal activist- author, conservative activist- author David Horowitz tried to speak at San Francisco State University. Little did he know that is was going to end very poorly. During his speech he was interrupted the entire time by a group of college students in the back who were protesters. They shouted and commented on almost everything that he had to say. These bullies didn’t only hurt David but they also hurt the people who were actually trying to listen to the presentation. In “Speech Codes: Alive and Well at Colleges” there are different forms of bullies. It describes how there are kids who put racial, or sexual harassment cartoons/articles in school newspapers. Most of the time a student will say something to a faculty member and the problem will get resolved fairly quick. Sometimes if it is a teacher that is involved in the harassment the dean of the college will have to get involved. If this occurs the teacher will either resign or come to a compromise like at the Harvard Business school. There were two teachers who got caught up in a racial harassment problem. One resigned, and the other agreed that from that moment on there would have to be a video camera taping his class in case there was anything like that again. As you can see these articles have two different forms of bullying.
In “Mob Rule on College Campus” there is an example of racial harassment with the Muslim religion. Nonie Darwish, who was raised as a Muslim in Egypt but later converted to Christianity. She converted to Christianity because she didn’t like the anti- Semitism and anti- Americanism. She went to Brown University to give a speech, which was about how hatred and intolerance are crippling the Muslim world and leading to violence against non- Muslims. She tried telling people that not all Muslims are radical Muslims that practice terrorism. A Jewish group called Hillel were suppose to speak at Browns University with Nonie Darish but feared it would ruin their relationship with the Muslim students.
Many more people thought the same things so no one ended up coming to her speech. In the fall of 2002 a man named Steve Hinkle who was a student at California Polytechnic State University tried to post fliers for a speech by C. Mason Weaver who is the author of It’s Ok to Leave the Plantation. Weaver is an African American writer who argues that the government-assistance programs place many black people in a cycle of poverty and dependence to slavery (Silbergate and Lukianoff 636). Several students saw Hinkle posting these fliers and thought that it was “offensive.” One of the students complained of “a suspicious white male passing out literature of an offensive racial nature”(Silbergate and Lukianoff 636). Hinkle had to attend several administrative hearings over the span of a half year when he was finally found guilty of “disruption.” There are many racial issues that go on, on college campuses and those are two different ways of handling them.
Both pieces of literature state how bullying and harassment are changing our students. In “Mob Rule on College Campuses” it describes how liberal student groups are helping out totalitarian forces, which is something that they are trying to oppose. Many college students try to prevent something but later affects may be something worse if they don’t handle the situation correctly. In “Speech Codes: Alive and Well at Colleges” it tells us that colleges have to realize that progress, and growth comes with the bullying and harassment. Colleges can have the advantage of becoming a better school if they handle these types of situations correctly.
The articles “Mob Rule on College Campuses” by Cinnamon Stillwell and “Speech Codes: Alive and Well at Colleges” by Harvey A. Silverglate and Greg Lukianoff, gives us examples about harassment and bullying. These articles show us the different forms of harassment. Also it talks about how harassment can be good or bad for a college. Overall these articles show very different forms of harassment.
Work Cited
Stillwell, Cinnamon “Mob Rule on College Campuses.” Clouse, Barbara Fine. Patterns for a Purpose: A Rhetorical Reader. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 622-625 Print. Silvergate, Harvey A/ Lukianoff, GregClouse “Speech Codes: Alive and Well at Colleges” Barbara Fine. Patterns for a Purpose: A Rhetorical Reader. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003. 632-637 Print.
