In my last post on the VC, I would like to say a bit about so-called "hate speech" (which I address in the last chapter of my book, arguing that it should be constitutionally protected in public schools). I say "so-called," because it might be better to drop the term "hate speech" insofar as it implies an extreme aversion to a particular group. However, in this post, I will use the term for convenience.
No single legal definition of hate speech exists. The term is notoriously difficult to define with sufficient precision. As a result, those who support anti-hate speech codes on college campuses, for example, must say more about what to do about invariable vagueness and overbreadth problems than they usually do. That hate speech is constitutionally protected in the U.S. has not stopped university administrators to try to make it much harder for students to express certain ideas with impunity.
