For the midterm exam, you will write an essay of 4 pages in response to one of the prompts below. Please use the author/page number system for direct quotations, e.g. (Mill, 53). Due date: Monday, March 27th.
(1) Andrew Altman distinguishes between two forms of hate speech that he thinks should be treated differently on college campuses. On the one hand, there are “racial epithets and similar terms of abuse” (176) that Altman thinks can be restricted and punished by a campus speech code. On the other hand, there is hate speech “couched in the discourse of science, philosophy, theology, or other scholarly vocabularies” that he thinks should be allowed on campus (both inside and outside the classroom) (177). The latter forms of hate speech should be critically examined but not censored. Do you agree with him? Write an essay in which you explain Altman’s position and then critically evaluate it.
(2) In the excerpt from their book The Coddling of the American Mind, Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt argue that steps taken to protect vulnerable students, such as trigger warnings and prohibitions against micro-aggressions, actually have negative effects on those students’ well-being. Are they right? Write an essay in which you summarize Lukianoff and Haidt’s main points and then critically evaluate their arguments.
