Do College Students Hate Free Speech? Let's Ask Them.

The faculty council at Occidental College is considering instituting a system for students to report microaggressions perpetrated against them by faculty members or other students.

Reason TV visited Occidental's campus to find out what exactly constitutes a microaggression. One Columbia psychology professor defined the term this way:

Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.

After exploring the limitations of a microaggression reporting system, we discussed broader free speech issues with the students in the wake of a month of campus protests that resulted in the resignations of several faculty members and a university president.

Most of the students defended free speech in principle, if not always in practice. This is consistent with a recent Pew Research Center survey, which found that although 95 percent of Americans agree that people should be allowed to publicly criticize government policies, support erodes when the question turns to offensive speech. While a majority of millennials still believe that the government should protect speech offensive to minorities, a whopping 40 percent believe the government should restric such speech.

"If you say 'You're less of a person because you're Muslim/Jewish/Christian/Catholic... that's not okay. That's a hate crime," one student told us.

Another student argued that the government should curtail the speech of Donald Trump, while a protest organizer told us that free speech is a rhetorical device used by the priveleged against the oppressed.

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[mudturtle]

I'm an atheist, and today when I sneezed some one said "God bless you." And then I said thank you, because that's what polite, sane people do.

[AngryForeigner]

Thanks for ruining civilization, guys.

[TheUntypicalGerman]

Normal People: "Are you Korean?" "No, I'm actually from China." "Oh, cool :)"
Modern Society: "Are you Korean?" "YOU RACIST! I FEEL SO OFFENDED, I'M GONNA CRY ON SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUT THE TRAUMA I JUST EXPERIENCED!"

[jefferytokarsky]

That was 7 years ago. Imagine what it’s like today. “I’m for free speech ... my free speech, not yours.”

[mescalink]

"I like free speech as long as it supports my personal opinion."

[nikolashansen]

People love free speech until someone says something they don’t agree with.

[thomasspaletti]

Great video but please make more of ones to enlighten people. I stumbled upon someone complaining in your comment section about loosing job and seeking for help. Having multiple income sources is very crucial to financial growth.

[edparagonpc]

This makes me so sad for the future of our country. They want to be censored and to censor anything they don't want to hear.

[YousAHunter]

"in order to be able to THINK you have to risk being OFFENSIVE" -J. Peterson

[davidugarte]

The fact that they aren't smart enough to recognize their contradictions is alarming.

[koyotekola]

Conservative college student: "I'm happy that I'm here to learn."
Socialist college student: "I'm not happy until you're not happy."

[joangordoneieio]

"When you tear out a man's tongue,  you are not proving him a liar,  you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say."

[noahbrady]

"qualifications aren't the only thing you should consider when hiring someone"
okay, I'm done.

[stjkcnu]

"Qualifications aren't really the only thing you should consider when you hire someone". I want to see this guys' face when affirmative action beats him out of a job.

[Danilo_Stanojevic]

“Qualifications aren’t things you should consider when hiring someone for a job.” 😳

[thenarrowbrushvideos]

So instead of leaving college fully prepared adults, they leave as infants

[kurtbrigandi]

“Qualifications aren’t really the only thing you should base hiring someone on”

Spoken like a man who has never worked yet

[wilshirejkk]

What a weak generation. We're gonna be in a lot of trouble when they enter the workforce and start serving in government

[jamesbooth]

We need to make and enforce a law that prevents universities from indoctrinating these young adults into this type of belief system.

[alekssbelskis]

“Qualifications aren’t really the only thing you should base hiring someone on”

Why the hell are you there then