Article
In Defense of Dignitary Safety: A Phenomenological Study of Student Resistance to Hate Speech on Campus
Peabody Journal of Education
(2022)
Abstract
Frequent incidents of racist hate speech on college and university campuses continue to instigate an ideological battleground between legal purists, anti-racist scholars, and those otherwise situated somewhere therein. We find that arguments from legal purists are predicated upon a false-equivalency between racist and anti-racist speech where the effect, value, and embedded power dynamics of the former are often disregarded. We engage in a phenomenological analysis of a four-year, private institution – Clearview College (CVC)—where a controversial speaker was invited to campus by a conservative student organization. We specifically interrogate how the seemingly race-neutral free speech policies at CVC, which were informed by the “Chicago Principles,” were racially structured in impact. We utilize a conceptual framework that demarcates intellectual safety and dignitary safety as a foundational point of departure to analyze the responses from 20 undergraduate students. The responses from focus groups revealed two primary themes: (1) racist hate speech as a threat to dignitary safety, and (2) institutional retribution against students defending their dignitary safety. Implications for higher education policy and praxis are provided.
Keywords
- Campus Safety,
- Higher Education,
- Free Speech,
- Student Activism,
- Phenomenology
Disciplines
Publication Date
Fall October 19, 2022
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2022.2125760
Citation Information
Stokes, S., & Davis III, C. H. F. (2022). In defense of dignitary safety: A phenomenological study of student resistance to hate speech on campus. Peabody Journal of Education, DOI: 10.1080/0161956X.2022.2125760