Essay 3: Language and the Freedom of Deplorable Speech Length: Readings: 1000 words Hate Speech (311) The

Betrayal of Liberty on Americas Campuses (336) Freedom of Deplorable Speech (348) for reference: Analyzing Arguments (ch. 8 St. Martins) Constructing Arguments (ch. 9 St. Martins) Blogging in the Global Lunchroom (Goshgarian 225) Introduction: As we have talked about throughout our time together in this class, language is powerful stuff. What you say and how you say it is as important, if not more, than what you DONT say. Periodically, we see headlines about the intersections of freedom of speech and hate speech, and people often struggle with where to draw the line because of the precedent it will set: and particularly in the realm of academia. Lakoff writes that individuals and groups who dont have a history of hearing hate speech just dont get it, since it is the historical repetition and legacy of such language that give racial and sexual epithets their bite. Getting others to see, or understand, why language inherently does (or does not) have this so-called sting can be incredibly difficult to do. Assignment: This assignment asks you to take a position on issues of language and our ability to use--and exercise--deplorable speech, as we so wish, in the realm of academia. What will be different about this assignment in comparison to Essays 1 and 2, however, is that you will be asked to convey your argument in the form of a blog post. Well talk about blogs as a genre (and discourse) in class. Blogs are inherently different from essays in that you (usually) have far less space to convey your message. Theyre still essays, but theyre noticeably and rhetorically different. Among other things, brevity will be critical here. Using our course readings and discussion as a basis for your blog entry, assert what you think should--or shouldnt happen--with extending First Amendment rights to college campuses. Some questions to consider: what should this look like? Why? How would you draw the line if you were in charge? Reading the FIRE website (thefire.org) will give you several real-life examples of how the freedom of speech manifests--in many ways--on college campuses, in terms of hate speech, honor codes, and harassment policies, among others. Id also encourage you to check out

the DePaulia archives about this topic, since they just did a special feature on freedom of speech (or academic freedom) at DePaul earlier in January 2012. It might also be helpful to skim the other articles in chapter 6 of the Goshgarian text, as they are all related to censorship and free speech. The authors views represent a swath of opinion, and reading additional articles might help you formulate your own stance on the issue. Grading and Format Criteria: (adapted from ProfHacker). Upper half: exceptional: blog post is focused; coherently integrates examples with explanations or analysis; demonstrates an awareness of its own limitations or implications; considers multiple perspectives when appropriate; reflects in-depth engagement with the topic satisfactory: reasonably focused; explanations or analysis usually based on examples or other evidence; new insights arent fully developed (but are offered); few connections between ideas; moderate engagement with the topic Lower half: underdeveloped: post is mostly description or summary; doesnt consider alternative perspectives; few connections between ideas; only passing engagement with topic limited: unfocused; exclusively rehashes previous comments; no evidence of engagement Due Dates: M, 2/13

Readings: Hate Speech (311); The Betrayal of Liberty on Americas Campuses (336); Freedom of Deplorable Speech (348) Readings: Analyzing Arguments (ch. 8 St. Martins), Constructing Arguments (ch. 9 St. Martins), Blogging in the Global Lunchroom (225 Goshgarian) Bring to class favorite blog URL to share for in-class analysis Bring to class example of recently-published artifact regarding language in context (in higher education arena or otherwise); be prepared to analyze

W, 2/15

M, 2/20 W, 2/22

Essay #3/blog essay rough draft due Essay #3/blog essay final draft due