Does our constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech go too far? In an era when hateful messages demeaning entire ethnic or religious groups go viral, when hate groups have become more numerous, students and faculty on some campuses are advocating “hate speech codes” to punish those who express hate. Attempts to impose such codes, however, run up against not only legal barriers but the difficulty of clearly defining hate speech.
Two scholars bring different points of view to a dialogue on this polarizing topic: Jeremy Waldron (NYU School of Law), author of The Harm of Hate Speech; and Nadine Strossen (New York Law School), former president of the American Civil Liberties Union and author of the forthcoming Hate: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship.
This event is sponsored by the Office of the President and supported by the Law School.