Week 7 - Do Won Lee

Do Won Lee

Section 2

Week 7

            This week’s readings focused on the topic of Academic Freedom in the United States. The first article, by Robby Cohen, focuses on the struggles that the students of UC Berkeley went through in the 1960s against the school and the police to achieve free speech on campus. Thousands of students showed expressed their solidarity by joining in on peaceful protest against the arrest of other students that were protesting. Eventually, the school complied to the students and the faculty and the student body felt united with this cause. The end result is a positive light on academic freedom, where both students and faculty come to an agreement and improves the lives of not only students, but also academia as well.

            Darrell Hamamoto’s excerpt write of Norman Yoshio Mineta, who was the Secretary of Transportation for the US Government in the beginning of the 2000s. Hamamoto later puts into details the affiliations and positions that Mineta took and his eventual rise in power. The excerpt dwells further into his life and the life of his ancestors, particularly the part of his life of Japanese internment camps in the United States during World War 2.

            Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt write about the use of Political Correctness in college campuses requested by some students. The article goes on about the contradictions students may have with one another in terms of what is considered politically correct or not, and what things should be enforced when it comes to the idea of being politically correct. The abuse of the term “Political Correctness” can cause the destruction of academic integrity and the freedom of speech as well. Some may be opposed to a stance or the use of a word, and nothing can be done because the power of being PC can overrule anything. People have differing opinions on the topic of PCness, but if it restricts free speech, maybe it should be reviewed and revised. 

Mash, T. (2016, March 04). Is America Becoming Too Politically Correct? Retrieved May 14, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-mash/is-america-becoming-too-p_b_9387060.html