" (Hansen 5). Speech codes in universities have risen rapidly in the past twenty years. As Ethan Bronner reports "Between 1987 and 1992 about a third of the nation's colleges and universities enacted codes of conduct that covered offensive speech" (2). Popularity of speech codes among universities is due to the ever growing complaints made by students. Student complaints about harassment is the main reason universities enact speech codes. Speech codes place a heavy infringement on students' and faculties' rights. Because a small group is offended, the university feels that group needs special protection. These groups usually include, non-whites, women, homosexual individuals, and the disabled. The only way universities seem to protect these groups is they limit the rights of all the students as well as faculty. The University administration fears that their university may become an anti polliticaly correct institution which goes against the popular view. "At most colleges, it is the administration who sets up the codes. Because there have been racist or sexist or homophobic taunts, anonymous notes or graffiti, the administration feels it must do something. The easiest way to demonstrate that it cares is to appear to suppress racist, sexist, homophobic speech (Hentoff 353). .
To show that speech codes deprive ones freedom of speech it is necessary to introduce the views of supporters for campus speech codes and to show that speech codes are not the answer to many problems. The supporters of speech codes suggest that if racism is punished then people will learn that racism is unacceptable. They believe that by silencing racism it will go away. To argue this point, I feel that simply shutting someone's views about racism does not eliminate racist feelings. If people are not socializing and expressing their views about racism it will only get worse. "Adopting and enforcing campus speech codes won't do a bit of good "wrote Nat Hentoff.
