Written by: Libby Thoma | Staff Writer

On many college campuses, a phenomenon that excludes Western, some preachers hold signs expressing hateful, sexist, racist, homophobic and other problematic words — backing their religious beliefs. These signs can include anything from anti-abortion harassment to informing those who are gay, masturbators, gossips and more that they are sinning and hell awaits them. 

Protestors also loudly attest that judgment is coming and to repent. Additionally,  protestors wave signs saying that abortion is murder or a sin. This list goes on and on, commonly revolving around religion in one way or another. 

These signs and the people holding them can be extremely hateful and disrespectful, and when confronted, they generally justify their rhetoric by citing that campuses allow freedom of speech.

Although campuses do allow freedom of speech, these protests can often lead to people feeling unsafe and unwelcome, and there have been times when the university’s campus public safety has had to intervene to ensure everyone’s safety and push back against violence. 

So, there are two arguments universities face: allowing freedom of speech — which means allowing hateful speech or stopping this type of protesting due to it being hurtful and uncomfortable for the students and faculty it targets. 

The First Amendment of the Constitution allows freedom of speech no matter how offensive the speech is. However, the Constitution does not permit hate speech, libel or slander, although the parameters of hate speech are not specified. This does not extend to behavior or speech that is threatening, harassing or creates a hostile environment. This translates to universities as well; freedom of speech is vital to education.

This is problematic because it is subjective whether these protesters are harassing or threatening people, and most would consider them creating a hostile environment. Another problem is that even if the protesters themselves are not participating in violent behavior, the hateful messages that they are spreading can, and seemingly do, create violent situations in which public safety has to intervene.

This may lead to confusion about what material can be defined as hateful and what is an opinion. Stating that someone is going to hell generally comes across as hateful, and stating a political or religious opinion such as “abortion is wrong” is generally considered disrespectful as well. It is also important to consider that these protestors can make it hard for students to get to class, as the crowds that surround the protestors can get in the way. This can lead to the idea that these protestors get in the way of university student’s education, which is important to consider in this topic. The question universities have to consider is what is the line between opinion and hatefulness, and whether hateful speech should be allowed on campus. 

Hallee Ocana, a University of New Mexico student, has experienced these preachers and protestors firsthand. “These protestors a lot of the time are very docile and are just old people who don’t receive a lending ear in their personal lives, so I view them as quite pitiful. The younger or more active ones like this man I’ve seen around campus have made it a bit of a living nightmare trying to get to class. These are the ones I walk a bit faster for and genuinely look behind me just in case.” 

Hallee continued, “While I consider it free speech, I’m not positive that this is what our founding fathers meant by it. Speech is supposed to be critical and open, not hateful and potentially dangerous. When their voice uses weapons and their hands it is no longer the free speech our forefathers envisioned. I do believe that our campus should have policies against this sort of thing. While a student can face an academic disciplinary committee if they disagree too much with a student on a discussion board, there should be regulations and countermeasures to these protestors.”

Haille explained, “I identify as bisexual Latina who doesn’t mind pot and believes that women deserve bodily autonomy. So in the case of this man’s statement, I deserve to burn in hell? What good do villainizing labels do for anyone to make the world a better place?” Hallee said. “Like I’ve said, some of them are funny and pitiful in their efforts, however, ones like him who will hit you with their sign or chase you to class if you speak up are wrong,” Hallee said.

When asked if the protestors aligned more with opinions or hate speech, Hallee said, “It would depend on the circumstance in which they choose to state their beliefs. This man uses hate speech, while others simply will say, ‘hey, stop that, that’s wrong.’ There’s a difference between a conversation versus a hostile dynamic and most of these individuals like to twirl on that fence. Civilized conversation is an opinion, attacking those you’re against is a hate crime.”

Hallee alleged, based on her experiences, that freedom of speech has gone too far and has gotten in the way of her safety and her education. 

Protesters talking about abortions, racist speakers and more, affect most universities. It may be time for universities to decide on what qualifies as hateful and unsafe speech versus free speech and what is allowed on campus. 

Contact the author at ethoma23@mail.wou.edu