Permissible University Responses to Blameworthy Student Speech
INTRODUCTION
The particular focus of this article stems from the general interest two of us have in the nature and value of individual liberty.1 It is by virtue of that general interest that we have more particular interests in people’s freedom of expression and the freedoms people have to respond to others’ expressions. And precisely because universities have traditionally constituted arenas in which people are encouraged to pit their ideas against one another, we take the issues of proper student speech, and of university administrations’ responses to student speech when it is improper, to be a fruitful venue in which to explore these interests of ours in personal liberty. The questions we explore are: when are students wrongful in their speech, and when should students who are wrongful in their speech be accorded “rights to do wrong,” by being left at liberty to say things they ought not to say?
This piece thus harmonizes with a forthcoming book on which the two of us are working. See Heidi M. Hurd & Michael S. Moore, Liberty in Law and Morals (unpublished manuscript) (on file with authors).