Trigger Warnings and Free Speech On Campus. Discuss.

What can (can't) you say, anymore?

By Carla Murphy May 20, 2014

The bounds of appropriate speech on college campuses is shrinking every day–or so it appears to many in the liberal and conservative mainstream. Room for Debate over at The New York Times looks at only the latest speech controversies: Rutgers students protesting Condoleeza Rice as commencement speaker and "trigger warnings" demanded for in-class film screenings, syllabi or works of literature. But this debate is old and especially relevant for many students of color and women. They’re often framed as the "bad guys" pushing back against disagreeable, hateful (as in these examples from Bowling Green, Ky.St. Louis, Mo. and San Jose State in Ca.) offensive or uncomfortable speech. Is free speech really under attack on college campuses? If so, do the attackers generally look like POC and women?