Why Students Need a Guide to Free Speech on Campus More Than Ever

Will Freeley:

Today's college students enjoy the ability to speak their minds in unprecedented ways. Powered by omnipresent high-speed Internet access, students may sound off at all hours via a sparkling array of online outlets: Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, email, instant messaging, and blogs, just to name a few.

The ancient among us -- by which I mean those who graduated from college before, say, the year 2002 -- may not realize the enormity of this change. While old standbys like phone calls, text messages, and even face-to-face conversations have certainly not been forsaken, student speech -- to each other, and to professors, parents, and the public -- has increasingly moved online.

On balance, this shift is a positive development. Students may now communicate with each other and the wider world at a speed impossible just 20 years ago. The vastly expanded audience made possible by the Internet's hyperconnectivity means student ideas now rocket around the globe instantly, no longer confined to the quad or the classroom.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 7, 2012 2:22 AM
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