Week 7 - Karen Nguyen

Karen Nguyen

ASA 002 A02

May 14, 2017

            America has always prided itself in being the “home of the free.” However, all the rights that minorities have today were rights that they had to fight for. Ironic, as without the same rights as their fellow white Americans, minorities were restrained to their economic standings. In other words, the majority of the minority immigrants were restrained to living in poverty with no way out. In the “Berkeley Free Speech Movement,” freedom of speech on campuses, a right students have now, did not exist in the 1960s. Thousands of Berkeley students had to unite together to defy the university’s president and deans before this right was achieved. The administrators said that school regulations stated that political advocacy was prohibited when the students wanted to attract support from their fellow peers for the end of racial discrimination and segregation in America, a controversial idea. The students could not distribute information about or raise money for the movement. Universities have a reputation of being safe spaces where all ideas are welcome yet this type of censorship just shows that not all ideas are welcomed. Academic freedom is just an illusion. Overall, despite the fact that Berkeley was able to achieve free speech on campuses, there are still topics that are too controversial for universities and are subtly shut down and pushed out.  

Question

What are some topics that are controversial and are “forbidden” to be talked about on campuses?

References

Cohen, Robby. (1985). Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving the Way for Campus Activism. OAH Magazine of History, 1(1), 16-18.

Smith, S. (2013, October 14). Newspaper thefts, censorship efforts, roadblocks to public records and more: A Q&A with Frank LoMonte. Retrieved May 10, 2017, from http://cmreview.org/newspaper-thefts-censorship-efforts-roadblocks-to-public-records-and-more-a-qa-with-frank-lomonte/