ACLU Article) “Hate Speech on Campus”
The link address is: https://www.aclu.org/hate-speech-campus
Order description:*(type your instructions here)Essay # 1 – Should Free Speech or Speech Codes Mark a Free Society?
I. Assignment Theme and Overview:
How important is free speech to you? How important is it for us to say what we want or need to say? Are you aware of the fact that our First Amendment right to freedom speech (which also includes the freedoms of conscience/religion, assembly, and expression) is quite an odd phenomenon in the history of human civilization? In fact, exercising this freedom began our country as a declaration, and countless cases throughout American history have reiterated that freedom in this country begins with our speech because what we say is an extension of who we are! Quite eloquently, in response to the many incidents of flag burning (which is very offensive to many people) that were occurring in this country as a form of protest against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, one Supreme Court judge stated that “the flag protects even those who hold it in contempt.” Such a statement resembles a famous assertion made many years earlier by the noted French philosopher, Voltaire, who declared: “I agree not with a word you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it!” The two extremes of “agreeing not” with a “single word” of an opponent juxtaposed with “defending to the death” that very opponent’s right to say what he finds so disagreeable is at the heart of this cherished liberty. So, if this is true of general society in free democracies, it begs the question as to whether or not this freedom should or should not be more-so on college and university campuses—where a higher degree of civility and intellectual tolerance is generally expected?
For our first essay in this class, you’ll need to visit the website of an organization called “F.I.R.E.” (www.thefire.org), which stands for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. This is a non-profit, bi-partisan organization that is devoted to the protection of free speech rights of both students and faculty alike on college and university campuses. This organization primarily consists of lawyers, in addition to researchers/scholars and a handful of people from the media who believe in the intrinsic value of free speech in a free society—especially on college and university campuses. Whenever and wherever a student or faculty member in higher education alerts F.I.R.E. to a practice or incident regarding a freedom of speech violation, they investigate and review the details of the claim. When or if they determine a First Amendment right is being violated, they initially write a letter to the institution in question, and this alone often causes the school to cease doing whatever it is that caused someone to take notice of a particular practice—namely because such practices violate the very codes of the institution and because they are often not in writing due to the fact that they wouldn’t survive the scrutiny of anyone who weighed them against the institutional bylaws and the Constitution of the United States. Institutions also listen to FIRE because of their outstanding reputation as having a high degree of ethos, or credibility. So, before you begin this assignment, you’ll want to spend some time exploring the F.I.R.E. website (they have many links to videos, written articles, and court cases) because you will need examples to reference in your paper. While you are there, be sure to look at their philosophy and their mission—both of which are articulated excellently by the two founders of the organization (Alan Kors and Harvey Silverglate) in videos I’ve posted in the “essay 1” folder:
II. The Essay Assignment:
You will need to select one of the three articles posted in the essay #1 folder on our class Learning Web page and write a “rhetorical analysis” of it. Your essay needs to be at least 4 full pages, and in correct MLA format. It should be written entirely in the third person voice—NOT in the first or second person voice! This essay is a rhetorical analysis, meaning the primary job is to examine how something is said (i.e. the effectiveness of the writing); the secondary job is to examine what is said (the message of the writer). Thirdly, analysis of who is saying something, in terms of their credibility, is also important in your discussion. For more on what qualities need to be demonstrated in a rhetorical analysis, see the link I’ve provided in the essay 1 folder.
Beyond the F.I.R.E. website, no outside sources are allowed in this assignment. You have one task, which is to thoroughly investigate ONE OF THE FOLLOWING THREE ARTICLES and use the FIRE website as your point of objective reference for issues pertaining to the specific topic of free speech and higher education. Since FIRE is the leading authority on this issue, along with the ACLU, I’d expect all papers to include some examples or references to them. I am directing you to the FIRE website and to three particular articles with which I’m very familiar, so there is no need to produce a “Works Cited” page at the end of your paper. Nonetheless, you still need to make sure ANYTHING you quote from the site is placed inside “quotation” marks, followed by this parenthetical reference: (www.thefire.org). The same is true for the article you select, as you merely need to place quotation marks around quoted words, followed by the author’s last name in parenthesis.
Again, a rhetorical analysis essay first focuses on “how” something is written; it examines this question through the lenses of ethos (ethics/credibility), logos (logic), and pathos (emotion). Only after significant focus and development goes into the “how” and “who” questions can you then merge into the “what” question. By this, I mean what the essay is about (the ideas, opinions, and beliefs). In this case, the “what” is the issue of “speech codes” on college and university campuses within the broader context of free speech in America.
As explained in the syllabus, this FORMAL essay must demonstrate all stages of the “writing process,” as discussed in class and illustrated on the “Writing Process Map” I have posted on my Learning Web page. One important stage of the process involves having a typed rough draft, which meets minimum page length requirements, on the rough draft due date stated in the schedule.
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