It has been 214 years since the First Amendment was put into effect and became a permanent part of the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment gives people in the United States the freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble.

The issue of freedom of speech has become a heated debate and a very controversial topic on college campuses across the U.S. Speech codes, the rules that dictate speech and action on college campuses, violate the Constitution by setting limits to what constitutes free speech and where it can be expressed.

College campuses across America have, what they call, free-speech zones. Free-speech zones are certain areas on campus where free speech is acceptable and where protests can be held.

Some say having free-speech zones limit speech too much. These zones limit the areas where protests and speeches can be held; therefore it’s not really free speech. These zones also restrict the content of the speech and that violates the First Amendment.

Some say that these free-speech zones are to "prevent student activism from disturbing the primary function of a university - the teaching of students in classrooms," but one must remember that not everything can be taught in a classroom.

People who voice their opinions in public want to teach or voice their concerns, and those who want to listen can listen, and those who want to walk away can walk away. That is the whole point of free speech.

Approximately 90 percent of colleges in America have some sort of speech code.

According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), speech codes are defined as "any campus regulation that punishes, forbids, heavily regulates, or restricts a substantial amount of expression that would be protected in the larger society."

FIRE is an organization that monitors and fights campus speech codes. College administrators say that the reasons for having speech codes are to protect groups that could be subject to harassment and discrimination.

The University of Hawaii has at least three speech codes that include a student conduct code, a student academic code, and a freedom of speech code.

The University of Colorado at Boulder, the college I attend, has at least two speech codes that are student conduct codes.

Speech codes violate the First Amendment by restricting how and where students can express themselves. Speech codes make it so that if a student violates the codes they could be punished or expelled.

FIRE considers free-speech zones a speech code, in the sense that it restricts the space that can be used for free speech. People and officials all across America are fighting to have speech codes abolished from all college campuses.

An example of a controversial current event in today’s news involving the First Amendment and a college campus comes from my college. Ward Churchill. Need I say more?

Churchill is a good example of testing the college speech codes and the First Amendment. Churchill travels to colleges across the country lecturing about his views on terrorism and the United States government.

Churchill is saying that he is being denied his First Amendment rights by having certain colleges refuse to have him speak. Politicians and the University of Colorado administration are saying that what he is saying is hate speech; therefore it is not free speech. Even though what Churchill is saying can be deemed false and hurtful, he still has the right to say what he is saying because of the First Amendment.

Speech codes and college campuses don’t seem to mix. Speech codes take away the very rights that are set forth in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Everyone should have the right to voice his or her opinions and concerns. However, one question remains: how do we find a balance between free speech and the codes set to limit what is said?

Footnotes:

• Hudson Jr., David L."Free-speech zones." http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/pubcollege/topic.aspx?/topic=free-speech_zones

• Dekel, Jennifer."Free Speech On Campus Gagged, US Senators Hear." Dec. 2003. http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2003/cr_free_speech.html and http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5117.html

• Zeiger, Hans."Free Speech On Campus?" Sept. 10, 2003. http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/zeiger/030910

• Speechcodes.org: For the University of Colorado speech codes- http://www.speechcodes.org/schools.php?id=265

• For the University of Hawaii speech codes

http://www.speechcodes.org/schools.php?id=418.

• Zimmerman, Malia. "Not On My Hard Earned Dollar." Feb. 24, 2005. http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?11d80638-dfb3-48b4-8e72-124a6c7e710c

Laura McWillams currently is attending college at Colorado University at Boulder where she is a sophomore in pre-journalism. She is a 2004 graduate of Waialua High School

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