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Policy Case Study: Responding to Hate Speech–The Limitations of Speech Codes and the Promise of Restorative Practices

Breslin, Beau
June 4, 2015

Source: (2004) In David R. Karp and Thom Allena, eds., Restorative Justice on the College Campus: promoting student growth and responsibility, and reawakening the spirit of campus community. Springfield, Ill. : C.C. Thomas. Pp. 203-216.

Beginning with citation of a number of biased, bigoted remarks actually expressed in various public ways on college campuses in the United States, Beau Breslin in this chapter presents a case study in policy concerning hate speech. It is of course a question as to how individual members of an academic community should respond, but it is equally a question as to how a college administration and academic community as a whole should deal with such behavior and the perspectives behind it. Even if there is a general consensus, apart from the perpetrators, that public expressions of bias and hate are reprehensible, should a college try to restrict such expressions or should it tolerate them in the interests of free speech? Breslin explores these questions by looking at the emergence of speech codes in academic settings, the limits of campus speech codes, and restorative responses to hate speech.

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