Free speech is stifled by political correctness at the University of Iowa

When classes began on January 19^th, I sat in my seat on the second floor of the English-Philosophy Building and watched a curious thing unfold. We were going around the room introducing ourselves, which included telling our year at the University. Rather than hearing the usual “freshman” or “sophomore,” my classmates used another method.

“First year student,” one said. “Third year student,” another said. It went on this way “first year,” “second year,” until the girl who sat next to me said, “Sophomore.” It astounded me that half the class rejected the traditional terms for one’s year in college. My mind harkened back to a news story in my home state of North Carolina where UNC-Chapel Hill banned the word “freshman” for a lack of gender inclusivity. In other words, a concession was made in the name of Political Correctness.

Political correctness is an ideology which centers around the defining and redefining of words as a means of controlling discourse. For example, “illegal immigrant” becomes “undocumented immigrant.”  Racism and sexism become the product of “prejudice and power,” which is how you get social justice groups, such as Feminist Frequency, making outlandish statements such as, “There’s no such thing as sexism against men.”

On a college campus, such an ideology should be considered problematic. Diversity includes not only different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, but different schools of thought and opinion—free speech. Yet, if discourse is controlled by political correctness, and dissenting opinions are silenced because feelings may be hurt, then discourse is  closed.

It’s human nature

Kris Yambao is an International Relations major at the University of Iowa and an active member of University Housing. Kris described to me his first encounter with political correctness.

He said: “First time I realized ‘PC’ was a thing was at a lunch with the housing associations. I said ‘hey you guys!’ and people from Herky Cares corrected me, explaining that what I said wasn’t gender inclusive. They then suggested several alternatives.” He went on to describe the whole incident as feeling “aggressive.”

Herky Cares is the social justice wing of University Housing.  As a part of his Rhetoric Minor, Kris is taking a class called “Desire and Consent of Sex in US Culture,” where he is one of a handful of men in the class. He feels hesitant when he voices his opinion.

He said: “It has that tone, you know? That if you don’t say something ‘PC’ and offend people, you’ll get ‘attacked.’”

Kris’s story is  one of many in the University of Iowa’s student body, where free speech is curtailed by political correctness. Justin Gorecki, a Mathematics major at the University has also witnessed these “attacks” on social media.

“If you go on Yik Yak and say anything about race, people will jump on you.”

The attack, in this case, is the labeling of someone as racist. In a generation so often defined by its distaste for labels, why are we so quick to label others?

Justin said: “That’s a mystery to me.  It’s human nature to think of yourself as an individual. It’s just easier to label others.”

Division rather than unity

In academia, the use of trigger warnings and safe spaces is commonplace. Many contend that these concepts, once intended for rape survivors, traumatized war veterans and domestic violence victims have since been misappropriated to become a means of sheltering oneself from anything upsetting.

Brett Austin, an Engineering major, said: “People need a thicker skin than what they get.

“It’s a part of growing up. Life’s a lot harder when you let the little things bother you.

But what if someone truly couldn’t cope? I played devil’s advocate when I asked this question to Psychology major, Angela Chay.

“If someone’s at that point, they should get help. It’s their responsibility to do that, not society’s. You shouldn’t be unable to have a dog in a movie because someone might be afraid of it.”

One outcome attributed to political correctness  is polarization, leading the different ends of the political spectrum into becoming more belligerent toward each other. Yet, did political correctness really contribute?

Angela said: “I guess, in some ways, yes. ‘PC’ just kinda brings it to the surface.”

For Brett, however, it’s more than just polarization and political correctness.

“I think a lot of what our society has problems with is the extremes. They’ve taken inherently good ideas and skewed them.”

What Brett said holds true. The mission embraced by universities to foster an inclusive learning environment was well intentioned. When it began to exclude dissenting thoughts and opinions, the mission became an agent of division rather than unity.

The sea of political correctness

One of the many arguments for political correctness is the “I have the right…”Arguments, like “I have the right to not be offended.”

This stems from the sense of entitlement that’s said to characterize millennials. However, dealing with opposing viewpoints and upsetting topics is how people learn and develop into adults.  This frame of mind is also responsible for the issuance of trigger warnings for something that might cause a strong emotional response, rather than something that could agitate a rape victim’s PTSD as it was intended.

Another argument often brought up frames political correctness as a tool fighting discrimination. However, the defining and redefining of words, as well as the banning of others only accomplishes the erosion of free speech. In truth, political correctness ends discrimination about as much as banning the Confederate Flag ended racism.

On January 25^th I scrolled through my Hawk Mail while I waited for lecture to start. I found an email from the University announcing their 2nd annual themed semester. The theme? Social justice.

In this age of “safe spaces” and “microaggressions,” I shouldn’t have been surprised. Yet, this themed semester seemed to be another step in the wrong direction for the University of Iowa. How far will this institution sink into the sea of political correctness, and how long will it be before we start drowning?

When I think about what’s happened elsewhere, such as how the University of Tennessee advised students to use gender neutral pronouns, or how TCU kicked out a student for criticizing feminism, I get worried.

In the end, getting offended doesn’t mean you’re right, it means you are not open to tolerating and learning about opinions that differ from your own.