In the age of political correctness, there are many ideas that are perceived to be controversial. There will always be a large group on the positive side, the other group on the negative side and some in the middle. Living in America grants freedom, but how much can that freedom extend? When it comes to banning specific words on college campuses, would that infringe on constitutional rights or would it support the safety of students at these universities?

Students on college campuses range from a variety of ages. Some are just fresh out of high school and some are withering down to retirement. The maturity levels of a classmate can be polar opposites of another. Some campus citizens use respectful language, but any of the students use bad language to the extent of college campuses banning the words completely.

Some of the banned words are words that make an individual take a second glance. Words that could possibly be in their everyday dictionary are banned on a university’s’ grounds. At the University Of New Hampshire the word, “American” is restricted so students are prompted to use ‘European-American individuals instead.’ The students are also not allowed to say “overweight.”

The majority of the words are reasonably banned. The ban stems from words that regressive. They are terms that are very exclusive and unjust. The words are intentionally kept off campus so that no one will get triggered. Many people who could potentially be insulted or triggered by specific terms are not granted trigger warnings which are alerts that prepare the reader or viewer to the fact that it contains potentially distressing material. This is why many college campuses have banned words.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln launched a campaign back in 2015 to get students to stop saying specific words. The words they focused on ridding from campus were “man up,” “no homo,” “retarded,” “ghetto,” “crazy” and “rape” (out of context).

The January and February Lincoln-Douglas high school debate topic was “Public colleges and universities in the United States ought not restrict any constitutionally protected speech.” Students in the United States debated for limits on speech and against limits on speech for two months. The topic was chosen for the debate because it was such a hot subject that was very controversial in America at the time and still is.

Jason McMahan, the debate coach at Lincoln Northeast High School stated, ¨I think that it hinders critical thinking. A lot of people have trauma and they are not afforded to have the benefit of trigger warnings. Also, any young adult has to learn and deal with different opinions and hard subjects.¨

The main argument against banning words on college campuses is that it is unconstitutional. The constitution grants the first amendment and that allows us to have freedom of speech. If we restrict the speech of kids, then that would be taking away their first amendment according to the arguments against banned words. On the other side of the argument are the people who think banning words would further the safety and wellness of the students.

Hate speech is a huge problem on college campuses so schools are taking actions that ban the words. Many free speech advocates argue that limits will not solve the racism or sexism on college campuses and that limiting free speech will only cause preparation education to diminish.

Ryan Secord, sophomore member of the LNE debate team, says, “I think that college campuses especially should be about free speech to keep it’s original purpose at a bastion of free speech. Speech codes will erode the ability to learn on college campuses.”
More and more public colleges in the United States are adding speech codes and free speech advocates are trying to fight them at all costs. Maybe one day in the future, every campus will have speech codes and maybe there will total free speech everywhere. If codes on speech occur on colleges then they could eventually make their way to hallways of Northeast High School.