Ban hate speech at the University of Iowa
Much has been both written and said in the past few weeks concerning the recent rash of suicides by gay youth across the United States. But while much has been said, little to nothing has been done.
The University of Iowa claims to hold diversity as one of its highest aspirations. When the university hired Jennifer Modestou as the director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity a few years ago, a news release stated: “In keeping with the UI’s goal to increase the diversity of all university faculty, staff, and students, the office strives to foster a welcoming and collaborative university climate in which individual ideas, contributions, and goals are acknowledged, respected, and valued.”
How can a climate where anything is respected or valued thrive when a person can stand proclaiming the damnation of members of the student body? How can differing points of view ever be reconciled when slurs can be thrown from one student to another with little to no ramifications?
How could any individual idea ever be respected if such a precedent exists that provides for the open discrimination of certain ideas?
If the university is truly serious about maintaining the diverse environment it seeks, decisive action must be taken, suggestions for which I have outlined here:
1. Ban hate speech and slurs. This is a relatively simple and common-sense step. It identifies the problem and officially condemns it. However, mere condemnation is nothing but a paper tiger. That is where the next step comes in.
2. Enforce the ban. Make excessive violation punishable by mandatory enrollment in diversity courses, by fines, and by academic probation. Make the cost of hate hurt. Form a board to review offenses and monitor the follow up.
3. File harassment lawsuits against the street preachers who use university property to preach messages of the most disgusting kinds of hate. In another time we could afford to let these crackpots lie, but we can now see the harm they are capable of causing.
I realize these policies would step on a lot of toes and have the potential to lead to numerous conflicts and lawsuits involving the freedom of religion, speech, and assembly. In the past these conflicts have been lost, as in the Supreme Court “speech code” case Doe vs. University of Michigan.
But if the UI is serious about its diversity policy — more than just paying lip service to it — officials need to be willing to fight those fights on behalf of students.
Universities are large, powerful institutions capable of accomplishing great leaps in social justice that are simply impossible for other individuals or organizations. In the past the UI has proved itself to be a progressive leader in this field. It is a widely known and flaunted fact that the UI was the first U.S. public university to admit men and women on an equal basis, as well as the first to accept students of all ethnicities.
It is time for the UI to once again assert itself and live up to its heritage of social progress. It is time for the university to clearly assert that it is no home for those who would seek to deconstruct decades of hard-won progress toward a society that accepts all people’s right to live their own lives as they see fit.
The danger that is posed to students is clear, and the ramifications are dire. It is never too late to prevent another tragedy, and it is high time the UI took the steps to do so.
Spencer Abbe is a UI sophomore.
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