With all the recent debate on trigger warnings on college campuses, I began to really examine what it means to have free speech. The highly polarized political climate in America this season has already affected students last school and this year it will only intensify. Being politically conservative this election cycle now comes with a lot more baggage, but both sides have a growing concern of whether or not they’ll be allowed to freely share their differing opinions.

I think the biggest problem students face in regards to retaining their First Amendment rights stems from extremism on both the Republican and Democratic parties.

The fairest definitions I could find for the regressive movements in both parties come from Wikipedia. The regressive Democratic left movement is considered as being coined by Maajid Nawaz as a description for the hypocritical radical liberalism occurring in Western cultures. Nawaz further clarified that he thinks that people on the left have good intentions but fail to stay consistent when it might mean seeming culturally intolerant to do so.

And the regressive right, or alt right as it is more popularly known, is a detour from tradition political conservatism, according to Wikipedia. They are probably most noteworthy for their rabid support of Donald Trump, but also for being quite decisively against the liberal social policies and stereotypical internet trolls.

UNI has already seen the effects of these two controversial political movements on campus. From the trigger warnings students see with every UNI crime alert, to the large unsanctioned chalkings of “BUILD THE WALL TRUMP 2016” on campus last year, UNI is clearly influenced by the larger political atmosphere. The biggest debate going on at college campuses due to these two groups is about free speech and limitations that should or shouldn’t be placed on it.

The University of Chicago’s statement in opposition of trigger warnings and safe spaces was covered by the NI recently and brought up many good points on academic freedom and being considerate of students’ mental health.

But it is also noteworthy how far UNI was in term of free speech. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, FIRE, once ranked all three state universities in Iowa, UNI included, in the “red light” for free speech in 2012.

A red light rated institution, according to FIRE is one where at least one policy “clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.” So it is a policy that explicitly limits free speech, and it doesn’t need to be acted upon to be considered such.

Yellow light ratings are earned by having policies that are either vague in wording or limits the amount of free expression. They also count verbal abuse policies which, although protecting against unprotected speech like threats of violence, can also be used to restrict other protected forms of speech.

Currently UNI is ranked with a “yellow light” which means we still operate under policies that are potentially dangerous for our free speech. FIRE also lists the policies in question as well as UNI’s greenlight policies which protect free speech.

This is where the UChicago’s statement on TWs not being allowed to halt the experience of thoughts different from yours and blocking speakers comes into play. The remarkable and terrifying problem in all this is the fact that it is student led censorship.

When a conservative speaker that I follow, Ben Shapiro, was blocked from speaking at California State University it was an entire student led inititive. CSU-LA’s Black Student Union, and Black Lives Matter chapter organized hundreds of protests to block students from entering the event according to the Daily Signal. The protesting was so volatile that Shapiro needed a police escort to get off campus. Whether you’re on one side or the other of the political arena, your ability for free expression of your ideas is crucial in this learning environment. I want to be challenged for my ideas, but I should also have the right to challenge others. UNI has a lot of questions to answer in regards to whether or not they’re going to let the polarizing political atmosphere dictate our speech or if they’ll defend students of every school of thought.

Right now, I would say I’m not very confident, and I know I’m not the only one. The only way to defend our free speech is to use it. We have a student body government, so let’s ask them to challenge the administration to get UNI off of that yellow rating. When it comes to student rights there can be no vagueness – just liberty.