Censorship is a major issue involved on many different levels of human interaction in everyday life. In this particular article, a student at California Polytechnic State University, named Steven Hinkle. His rights were basically violated at this prestigious college campus. He was posting fliers for an event in which an African American speaker was coming to the school to make a speech entitled “It’s ok to leave the plantation” The only reason Steven stopped himself was due to some students calling his flier disrespectful, if I was in this situation I probably would’ve still posted the flier. If the proper authorities had a problem with it, then they could take it down.
Steven Hinkle was actually subjected to a lot of inquiries by many different boards and was forced to apologize to the students which said that they felt offended, and if I was in Steven’s shoes I don’t think I would’ve been able to. He was simply advertising for a speech, given by an African American speaker., so it really shouldn’t be an issue. Luckily for Hinkle, the FIRE(Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) came to his rescue. FIRE was a Philadelphia based free speech group.
FIRE basically asserted that it was Mr. Hinkle’s right to say what he wanted and just because the university did not approve, does not mean that he should be penalized. Some colleges, though, do have a right to penalize their students because of violation of policy, but at what cost? The cost of free speech? They feel as if they need to censor certain things that may be found rude or offensive to other students, and they also feel as if they need to fight against sexual harassment, but what Steven Hinkle did was none of this. He was simply advertising for a speaker and truly should not be penalized.
