Free Speech And The Modern Campus Summary

604 Words2 Pages

In Camille Paglia’s essay “Free Speech and the Modern Campus”, Paglia discusses her views on free speech on college campuses and how she believes that the idea of free speech has changed over time. The essay was published back in May of 2016 on the website SmartSet. Paglia talks about the current controversies regarding free speech on campus and how it is the second wave that erupted while she has been teaching college. Along with her many details that she lays out in her essay, she also gives many examples of the violation of free speech rights. She gives her reasoning for why the problem of free speech has returned and who there is to blame for the outbreak. In her essay, Paglia goes into deep detail on how bad the current situation is and how she believes it can be fixed. …show more content…

She gives an example comparing political correctness and past revolutions by stating, “This is the phrase of political correctness...the rebels begin to fight…[and] the victorious survivor then rules like the tyrants who were toppled in the first place.” (Paglia 1). She also gives another example of free speech violation by telling the story of a Italian student named Mario Savio, who she met while attending the University of California at Berkeley. He was the leader of the Berkeley protests, and he was protesting because he was physically attacked for trying to raise money for the Civil rights movement. She then said that Mario conducted a very fiery speech on the steps of Sproul Hall, where he blamed the University's administration. Many of the protesters were arrested as a result of the speeches

Open Document