Southwest Minnesota State University was recently targeted by FIRE for an out-of-date statement in SMSU’s Code of Conduct. FIRE is an organization that helps individuals realize their rights in their education. In the case at SMSU, the statement they focused on, published in 2012, was, “Any verbal or physical contact directed at an individual or group such as racial slurs, jokes, or other behaviors that demean or belittle a person’s race, color, gender preference, national origin, culture, history or disability, is prohibited.” The part that was zeroed in on was the ‘prohibited’ part. FIRE argues that students should not be prohibited from saying anything, whether it belittles or not.

The new language, published in 2014, said, “Discriminatory harassment means verbal or physical conduct that is directed at an individual because of his or her protected class, and that is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to have the purpose or effect of creating a hostile work or educational environment.” This is different and here’s why: this is a definition of harassment while the other statement is outright banning language that could hurt someone.

There comes a point where free speech crosses a line and becomes hate speech. Where this line begins and ends is up for debate. Should students be able to harass someone verbally? Should they seek consequences if they do?

Here at SMSU, students do not get a lot of grief about who they are. That really is one of the benefits to being a small campus, but at bigger schools, this could lead to a problem. If someone leads someone else to the point of hating themselves just by being belittled by another student, is this right?

Where it does become right again is that this is extended to all students. If a person is saying to another that they hate them because of the way they look, the person being confronted can throw it right back.

“It becomes an argument, counter-argument type of piece,” Dr. Dwight C. Watson, provost at SMSU, said, “I might not like what you’re saying, but if you have convictions about it, then you get the right to say it. And then I get the right to counter what you’re saying.”

FIRE looked at SMSU because its policies were more restrictive than they wanted. Do they want us to be more racist? No, they just want to give us the opportunity to be racist if we want to.

Overall, everyone should accept each other. Does that mean you have to join hands with the people you hate and sing happy songs together every day? No, of course not. What it does mean, though, is that whether or not you disagree with a person’s lifestyle, because of their race, their religion, or anything else, you should not harass them even if you can. They are your fellow human and you should treat them as such.

“Our intent was never to limit the speech of students. The purpose of our policies is to guide our students to have proper civility,” said Watson. “You can say whatever you want to say, just say it with respect and say it with conviction and be prepared to be opposed to.”

College is about opening your mind to the greater world, not limiting others’ abilities to do so. Whatever the language in the Code of Conduct is, I really hope that it does not matter. People should not say things to hurt others, especially at such a widely diversified place like college, but rather say things that enrich the world and the people around them.