Date of Defense

12-5-2024

Date of Graduation

12-2024

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Jennifer Townsend

Second Advisor

Mark Hurwitz

Third Advisor

Becky Cooper

Abstract

The First Amendment’s breadth has narrowed on college and university campuses. Students, once staunch defenders of free speech, have become the censors themselves. In fact, there have been so many incidents of speaker disinvitations and scholars under scrutiny that the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, otherwise known as FIRE, has amassed years’ worth of data documenting these occurrences. This phenomenon has been so widespread for so long that scholars have been sounding the warning bells since 1987 (Bloom, 1987). While it may seem as if these problems occur at bigger universities, events that have violated First Amendment rights of students or professors have happened twice on Western Michigan University’s campus–once in 2014 (FIRE, 2014) and again in 2023 (Weidmayer, 2023).

Considering the incidents on WMU’s campus and nationwide, it is crucial to evaluate students' understanding of free speech and its alignment with the First Amendment, legal precedents, and WMU policies. This ensures that students' rights aren’t infringed upon and they understand and can defend themselves against such action, if need be. Through examples and ideals presented in The Coddling of the American Mind; The Canceling of the American Mind; Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media; Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech; Hate: Why We Must Resist it With Free Speech, not Censorship; All Minus One: The Illustrated Ideas of Mill; WMU policies, and ratings provided by FIRE, as well as a survey conducted on WMU’s campus about student perceptions of free speech, we can establish where student perceptions may differ from the text and precedence of the First Amendment and by how much.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access

Free Speech Thesis Presentation (1).pdf (427 kB)
Defense Presentation

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