NCJ Number
158167
Journal
Connecticut Law Review Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1995) Pages: 493-522
Date Published
1995
Length
30 pages
Annotation
A May 2, 1994, conference jointly sponsored by the Center for First Amendment Rights, Inc. and the University of Connecticut School of Law focused on the legal and practical ramifications of efforts to curb or penalize hate speech on college campus.
Abstract
Participants were probably unanimous in favoring penalizing the student who stalked another student with threats of physical violence and directed hateful and assaultive racist epithets at the student. Similarly, participants opposed, on First Amendment grounds, punishing a student who politely expressed offensive views without threatening imminent harm. The discussions revealed that the difficult question is where to draw the line between these extremes, so as to put all those subject to penalties under a code on notice as to precisely what conduct would violate it. Due process demands that codes of conduct clearly and precisely indicate what is forbidden and punishable. On balance, the consensus seems to be that hate speech codes are both ill-advised and ineffective in promoting the laudable goals of intergroup harmony and respect for others, which can best be advanced if campus leaders set a humane example by speaking out vigorously and forthrightly to condemn bigotry whenever it appears. Footnotes