Custom essays on Civil Rights as public policy problem within the pages of a media sources

“‘Speech Code’ on the campus and Problems of Free Speech” by Nat Hentoff is one the media examples dealing with two of the most significant questions in the present day world – racial discrimination and freedom of speech. The author describes the oppressive realities which representatives of white and non-white student community had to meet during their studies at the University, so called ‘Speech Code’ and the problems of free speech in the campus: “At the University of Buffalo Law School, which has a code restricting speech, I could find just one faculty member who was against it. A liberal, he spoke only on condition that I not use his name. He did not want to be categorized as the racist” (Hentoff, 1991, p-439). In his article Nat Hentoff tries to show the contemporary realities of speech code, political correct relations and conservatives movement within the campus: “Almost every college I’ve been, conservative students have their own newspaper, usually quite lively and fired by muckraking glee at exposing “politically correct” follies on campus” (Hentoff, 1991, p-439). Freedom of speech vs racial discrimination is the thesis of this argumentative article. It observes policy claim. The author’s purpose is to provide evident examination of for and against reasons of speech code establishment and the freedom of speech due the racial aspect.
Providing statistical evidence Nat Hentoff, examines publications and information dealing with the problem of racial discrimination, protection from the racial offences and freedom of speech: “The term “fighting words” come from a 1942 Supreme Court decision Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, which ruled that fighting words are not protected by First Amendment” (Hentoff, 1991, p-442). Paragraph called “Fighting Words” observes different data from different sources which could be related to as statistical evidence. Providing testimonial he quotes noticeable figures, who deal with this question, discussed within American universities, also he provides the opinions of those who participate in “word battlefields”: the author provides quotations of Benno Schmidt, who was anti-free-speech supporter college president(Hentoff, 1991, p-443), Gwen Thomas, a black community college administrator, was also the one who did not hide herself under the mask of anonymous, providing reasonable data for freedom of speech (Hentoff, 1991, p-443). During the whole article the author makes a stress on the analogical evidence illuminating the line of argument and providing interest to the subjects: making references on different participants (some of them stayed anonymous (Hentoff, 1991, p-439)), the author demonstrates that people are not indifferent to the questions and leaders of college communities are also interested in solution of this question: “As for providing a nonintimidating educational environment, our young people have to learn to grow up on college campuses. We have to teach them how to deal with adversarial situations. They have to learn how to survive speech they find wounding and harmful” (Hentoff, 1991, p-443-444). Nat Hentoff mainly used speech aspect of logos, which is represented by direct explanation of thesis formed in the very beginning (Hentoff, 1991, p-437-437), clear claim, logical reasons of the argument could be observed in the text; all these factors prove that the aspect of logos is in use and the thought aspect of speech is not observed in the text as the author did not expressed personal attitude to the situation, using only personal experience and observations. As it was mentioned earlier the author used personal experience communicating with the people who are not indifferent to the question of speech freedom (his conversation with liberals’ representative within the student community) and the same time he presented personal visionary observation on the situation development in the campuses.

The author provides good argumentative evidence finding reasonable balance between factual illustrations and providing different opinions. Using such balanced structure is quite reasonable for the argumentative article, as it provides good evidence and illustration, observing for and against position. Personally I agree to the author’s choice as it helps the reader to choose which side corresponds to his personal vision and attitude to the whole situation.
The warrants this text suggests to the reader are lying on the surface. The author deals with Civil Warrants. The theme of the article is freedom of speech and the reader have to choose whether racial minorities should be protected by the speech codes or they should learn to struggle for the equality from the very beginning. The author provides strong evidence for the both sides, making a stress on the facts that the leaders of black minority communities support freedom of speech: “As for providing a nonintimidating educational environment, our young people have to learn to grow up on college campuses. We have to teach them how to deal with adversarial situations. They have to learn how to survive speech they find wounding and harmful” (Hentoff, 1991, p-443-444).
The outside events prompted in the text are the First and the Fourteenth Amendments. The author represented these events as a part of the argument, showing that the question of speech freedom and racial (sexual etc.)discrimination is far more significant than just internal confrontation within the campuses of the US.
The target group of this article is youth. The author is intended to show them significance of the question observed and seeks for raising their interest. He illustrates the article with a number of students’ experience as the core participants of the process, showing that they are not indifferent. It goes without saying that choice of target group has influenced the text significantly. Passionate argumentation and the same time easy language are aimed to attract the readers of the target group. It should be noted that the size of the text and its structure are also provided according to the target group needs. The article is subdivided on several paragraphs and each of them illustrates the question from different point of view. They are not very long, but very informative
This type of reading is social science article. Originally it was shared with the help of social science magazine and it makes possible to study this article in the universities as scholarly source, touching a number of significant questions such as racial discrimination, freedom of speech, ethnic minority, and racism in the educational establishments. I think that this fact has very positive impact on the reading, helping the article to reach the target group at the core place – university.
The validity of this argument is in the fact that the racial equality as well as freedom of speech are very significant questions for the present day world. The author makes the reader choose what side he supports. Nat Hentoff does not directly express his position; hence in the end of the argument we see that it is possible to find solution without separation and opposing one to another. Using Rogerian method of argument the author seeks for common but not for polar argumentative basis. The major premise is racial inequality, the minor premise is freedom of speech, they seem to be confronting in the contemporary American campus, the conclusion is that racial question and freedom of speech could not be opposed but both help for seeking the racial equality.
The argument represented within the article “‘Speech Code’ on the campus and Problems of Free Speech” by Nat Hentoff is really compelling. The author used evident data to attract the target group: (quoting members of students’ communities and relating to situations happened in universities with students (Hentoff, 1991, pp. – 439-440)), illustrated for and against positions by reasonable argumentative facts(Hentoff, 1991, pp- 441-442), presenting the opinions from the representatives of the target group as well as he proved the arguments, showing the opinion of those who are working on this question for many years (Hentoff, 1991, p-443),. It goes without saying that reasonable data, proved by personal experience of the author (Hentoff, 1991, p-437-438), his personal observations (we should note that the author does not express his personal position staying neutral) are really perfect illustrations, showing compelling argument to the reader.
In the end I would like to make a stress on the fact that the racial studies as well as equality question and freedom of speech are always in the center of social attention. Such articles help the readers to get familiar to the situation and examine the case from the different sides. It goes without saying that argumentative investigations such as “‘Speech Code’ on the campus and Problems of Free Speech” by Nat Hentoff are the most reasonable to illustrate the set question.

 
References
Hentoff N. (1991). Speech Code’ on the campus and Problems of Free Speech. Social Science, (pp. 437-444)
Almanac of Policy Issues. 2010. Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws. Retrieved 22 April 2010 from official Almanac of Policy