Bullying Free Speech Essay

In the article titled "Bullying Free Speech: Anti-bullying laws and the erosion of campus expression," Harvey Silverglate states that Congress tends to turn human tragedy into an assault on liberty. This is evident in a new bill called the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act. Senator Frank Lautenberg and Representative Rush Holt authored this bill as a response to an incident at Rutgers University in which a freshman - Tyler Clementi - took his own life after two fellow students streamed a video of Clementi's homosexual encounter online. Silverglate strongly argues that Congress should not pass the new act because its new definition of harassment is vague and overbroad, it is redundant, and he also believes that unqualified administrators will abuse and take advantage of the new bill.

Silverglate argues that the new bill's definition of harassment is vague and overbroad. The proposed bill replaces the current definition of harassment with a more precise one. The Supreme Court currently defines harassment as "so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive, and that so undermines and detracts from the victims' educational experience, that the victim-students are effectively denied equal access to an institution's resources and opportunities." On the other hand, the new bill completely removes the phrase "objectively offensive." Silverglate claims that the removal of this important phrase will allow people who are the most easily offended to determine what qualifies as harassment.

Silverglate goes on to argue that the bill is nothing more than redundant. For example, genuine bullying is already a violation under state and federal laws; these federal laws require colleges to prohibit the kind of harassing behavior that constitutes serious bullying. Silverglate also states that the Clementi case is already classified as a felony in the state of New Jersey and that the students who committed the crime are being charged with felony invasion of privacy. He explains that under Title VI and Title IX, the overwhelming majority of federally funded public and private institutions must deal severely with discriminatory harassment. Silverglate makes another important point that the proposed legislation would not have prevented this incident, or any other incident for that matter, anymore than the current laws in place now.

Silverglate strongly believes that some administrators will abuse and take advantage of the proposed bill. He argues that charges of "harassment" are already the most abused tool to punish speech on campuses. Silverglate claims this is happening currently under the vague and overbroad definition. He also argues that the new definition will invite punishment of speech protected by the First Amendment thereby causing students to avoid all taboo subjects at the very time and place they are encouraged to explore them. On the other hand, Silverglate