Talking Outside the Box at Iowa State

by Sean Clark

October 19, 2006

Today, columnist Dustin Loy at Iowa State University presented a persuasive argument on why speech restrictions at universities are a bad idea. In an opinion piece featured in the Iowa State Daily, the school’s student newspaper, Loy attacked both the speech code at Iowa State and its “free speech zone” policies using research from Spotlight: The Campus Freedom Resource. Dustin also hammered home the precise reason why speech codes and censorship are not the solution, writing:
The answer lies not in more draconian restrictions on speech, but the exact opposite. The only way to overcome speech viewed as offensive is with more speech. By silencing one side of the debate with codes and restrictions one quashes any real means to an effective solution.
Good work Dustin! FIRE couldn’t have said it better.