The Limitations of Free Speech

Freedom of speech is often heralded as a core value of American society, and Kagan clearly calls for its necessity in liberal arts education, but I question whether there are some limitations to free speech. I think back to the many, many hurtful comments that have been permitted on campus and off, guarded by the sanctity of free speech. I think back to the casual racist epithets that are used behind closed dorm doors, to the hurtful name-calling of my high school days, and to the homophobic free speech that has caused many of my friends so much pain.

I struggle with this conversation. Deep down, I always side with free speech, because I know that it is the same law/rule/doctrine/value that has protected the voices of the oppressed, but I also recognize its limitations. For example, shouldn't liberal arts institutions adopt an antiracist doctrine? Shouldn't they punish, reject, and forbid hate speech? Shouldn't they work actively to change a culture where students think it is OK to write a racial slur on a dorm wall? I certainly think so, even though that racial slur does technically fall under the safe umbrella of free speech.

On a final note, I cannot help but critically examine this sentence from Kagan's piece: "The core (of a liberal arts education) I would propose would include the study of the literature, philosophy, and history (in which I include the history of the arts and sciences) of our culture from its origins." I am always suspicious when an author assumes uniformity of culture. After all, it is the same reason that I am so suspicious of the Great White European Male Conversation at a certain notable liberal arts institution. 

One final final note. I am also always suspicious of an author who writes this sentence: 

"The challenge to the relativism, nihilism, and privatism of the present can best be presented by a careful and respectful examination of earlier ideas, ideas that have not been rejected by the current generation but are simply unknown to them. "