Rather I may not be able to say this. I am talking about college speech codes. In the United States of America today, there are public colleges and universities that have speech codes in place. Before I get any deeper in the matter, let me explain what a speech code is first. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, abbreviated FIRE, a speech code is “any university regulation or policy that prohibits expression that would be protected by the First Amendment in society at large.” Now let’s explore the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America; it states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The important quote to note here is the freedom of speech which conflicts with the entire concept of speech codes on college campuses. It is shocking that these colleges violate the students’ and faculties’ freedom of speech so that they may not hurt other individual’s feelings. This can be by direct confrontation or even “inappropriately directed laughter” in the case of the University of Connecticut’s speech code; however the specific policy of the speech code varies between institutions. Along with being flat out unconstitutional, where do you draw the line with speech codes? People may get offended and emotional based off disagreements of opinions. However, this is not a reason to be censored or even taken to court on the matter.

College speech codes are direct violations of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. A college is supposed to be a place of intellectual advancement but is stunted by the censorship that is college speech codes. Public colleges and universities should not be subject to these speech codes, if they violate this, these institutions should lose government funding so the government isn’t funding something that restricts speech.Overall, college speech codes are limiting, unconstitutional, and only harm those that come into contact with them.