EDITORIAL BOARD: Free speech must be defended
Each month, the editorial board of The Utah Statesman will share our view on a topic we think is worth addressing. This month, we’re looking at the right to speak freely.
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At their finest, universities represent forums for open discussion and a place to foster a marketplace of ideas. But how much latitude should a university have to determine what ideas are or are not accepted in this marketplace?
Free speech in public places of learning has been a hot-button issue for decades, and in recent years we’ve seen the issue come up in Utah a number of times.
Take, for example, an incident at Herriman High School where, January of 2018, students at the high school newspaper published an article about one of the school’s teachers being fired for inappropriate text message exchanges with a female student. Hours after the article was published, school administrators removed it from the website.
While technically within their legal right, administrators removing an important story from the school paper’s website because they don’t agree with the content is a dangerous precedent to establish.
Of course, stories should be accurate and should abide by journalism ethics. But the freedom to speak out against those in power is core to our American identity.
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution limits the government’s ability to limit or inhibit free speech or the freedom of the press. And that right extends to public institutions, including universities.
There’s a reason the country’s founders put free speech in the very beginning of the Bill of Rights: without it, the people have nothing. Without a basic right to speak our minds, whether that’s to criticize our government or to openly practice religion, citizens have no real power.
If free speech is important enough for the founders of our country to explicitly protect the right, why have we seen so many instances in which school administrators, law enforcement and congressional leaders try to attack it, alter it and in some cases, completely ignore it?
The fight to preserve our freedom of speech will never be over. Those in power will always try to limit thoughts and opinions they don’t agree with. And limitations on free speech impact all of us.
Obviously, there is some speech that shouldn’t be protected. Harassment, threats and other kinds of intimidation don’t belong in the public sphere and do nothing to foster the marketplace of ideas. And it’s important to recognize that just because something can be said doesn’t mean it should be said.
But we should keep a watchful eye on how free speech protections are being applied.
In Utah’s recent legislative session Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan, proposed HB158, a bill that would prevent a university from punishing students for any form of speech except harassment. Coleman’s legislation defined harassment as language or actions that are “unwelcome, severe and pervasive and objectively offensive and that so undermines and detracts from a student’s educational experience to deprive them from their access and ability to benefit from those educational opportunities.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with several free speech advocacy groups and students from the University of Utah testified in favor of it, but the bill ultimately did not pass.
Reasonable minds could disagree on the language of the bill and if it was going to accomplish what it intended, but protections similar to that should be in place.
Protecting our right to speak freely is an every day effort that takes the press and the citizens, all working together. That’s what is required to consistently reaffirm our commitment to our freedom of speech.