Instructions

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• Ann believes in an active government that should tackle economic and social problems with zeal. She supports campus speech codes as a way to reduce racism and its effects on individuals and education.
• John is difficult to classify. He listens carefully to what the others say, assuming that there is some truth in each of their views. He is concerned about incidents on campus and the widespread sale of pornography, but is also afraid that legal restrictions may be a bad precedent.
• Fred is a conservative who wants less government and less 'social engineering.' He is afraid that a group of dogmatic liberals has too much power in the universities and will repress other points of view.
• Vera is a radical feminist. Some of here ideas have been influenced by recent work in feminist jurisprudence. She believes that hate speech and pornography are essentially assaults on members of weaker groups, especially women. Since they do extensive harm, they should be banned on campus and in society at large.
• Malik is very concerned about the rise of white racism on campuses. Some of his ideas have been influenced by a new school of thought called "critical race theory." Although he places great value on free expression, he advocates narrowly drawn restrictions on student speech and behavior.
• Dee is a libertarian. She advocates minimal government and maximum freedom of contract between individuals. She opposes nearly all government restrictions on speech, but believes that private schools should be allowed to adopt speech and behavior codes if they wish.

In some cases Ann, Vera, and Malik will agree, but their approaches also differ in important ways. The same is true for Fred and Dee. Keep in mind that sometimes a speaker will say something that he or she is thinking about but does not firmly believe. In conversation we often ask questions and throw out ideas to see what others think or to get more information.