ABSTRACT
Some campuses have recently instituted "speech codes" designed to prevent racist, sexist, and other forms of speech. One of the most restrictive of these codes was found at the University of Michigan. The policy outlawed conduct that "stigmatizes or victimizes" students on the basis of "race, ethnicity, religion, sex and sexual orientation." It is an unfortunate fact of the constitutional system that the ideals of freedom and equality are often in conflict. The difficult and sometimes painful task of our political and legal institutions is to mediate the appropriate balance between these two competing values. The Policy established a three-tiered system whereby the degree of regulation was dependent on the location of the conduct at issue. The broadest range of speech and dialogue was "tolerated" in variously described public parts of the campus. The Policy provided for progressive discipline based on the severity of the violation.
