Campus Free Speech

Book excerpt: Comprehensive and accessible, this one-stop resource examines the history, development, and present state of free speech issues on college campuses, including a range of political perspectives and viewpoints. It explains such concepts and forces as academic freedom, intellectual benefits of open debate, using speech as a weapon of hate and harassment, and the history of campus social protest. It also presents a broad survey of the arguments and rhetoric-as well as actual record-of America's two major parties on campus free speech and academic freedom issues. Other focuses of coverage include major laws and commonly employed college and university policies governing free speech and civil liberties for students, faculty, and other employees on campuses and classrooms across the country. This book accomplishes all of the above via a combination of informative resources-tables, primary documents, biographical profiles, illuminating essays, a chronology, and more-that are the trademark of the Contemporary World Issues series.