Many colleges across the USA and UK are now experiencing restrictions on free speech in the forms of things such as trigger warnings, safe spaces, banning speakers who disagree with the uni, and in some extreme cases compulsory ideological re-education classes. (That last one is real, I kid you not.)
Safe spaces
These are spaces in some universities where offended or triggered students go to calm down. No offensive language or material is allowed here. In my opinion, having these spaces does far more harm than good as it encourages students to simply ignore opposing theories or arguments rather than debate them. Debate is crucial for new ideas and the improvement of old ones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opini ... .html?_r=1
Trigger warnings
In many universities texts and essays have "trigger warnings" to warn people that potentially offensive or distressing language or imagery could be in said text. In many extreme cases there have even been a total ban on many words or concepts in students' essays for fear that they may cause other students distress. In my opinion, tip toeing around concepts you dont like is certainly not a good preparation for going out into the real world. And if it brings back a memory of something like abuse or rape-constantly censoring its every mention is not gonna help.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/un ... ideas.html
Banning speakers
A few universities have even been pressured to ban speakers from giving lectures if they do not agree with a certain set of ideas.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/n ... ities-risk
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... r-10136555
Ideological re-education classes
The university of Delaware had introduces ideological re-education classes" which were mandatory for all students. In these classes the students were basically spoon fed whatever political and cultural opinions that the university had.
https://www.thefire.org/university-of-d ... education/
I believe that all of this does more harm than good because it encourages students to believe that everything must conform to their wishes and that nothing is allowed to oppose their views. This is bad because they wont know how to deal with any sort of opposing argument or view at all when they don't have the safety of a university campus.
So what is your view on the current restrictions being enforced on many campuses?