WATCH: 'You kinda know it when you see it': UVA students try defining 'hate speech' ahead of Mike Pence visit
Campus Reform Reporter spoke with University of Virginia students about what they consider to be hate speech.
Pence is scheduled to speak at the University of Virginia on Tuesday.
Campus Reform Reporter Alexa Schwerha went to the University of Virginia to talk to students about free speech and the First Amendment after the student newspaper made national headlines for attempting to cancel Vice President Mike Pence’s event.
Pence is scheduled to speak at the university on Tuesday. The event, titled “How to Save America From the Woke Left,” is hosted by the school’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter.
On Mar. 13, The Cavalier Daily published an article demanding that the university rescind the invitation and block Pence from speaking on campus.
[RELATED: Mike Pence’s Stanford talk an apparent go after university council steps into the fray]
”I do not feel comfortable being in an academic environment where anti-LGBTQ+ individuals are welcomed with open arms to speak,” the author wrote. “We cannot invite people into our home who deny any part of our community or its humanity.”
She concluded, “We can disagree on things like our favorite dining hall, or more political arguments like tax policy, but we should not disagree on one another’s humanity. The community of trust begins with respecting and welcoming all students. This can start with YAF rescinding its offer for Pence to speak.”
However, her opinion was not widely shared with members of the campus community, despite their opinion of the former vice president.
”Let him say the dumb s**t that he wants to say,” one student told Campus Reform. “If it’s really that dumb people will evaluate it that way.”
Another student acknowledged the two-way street of free speech, stating that it is okay for students to ask for the invitation to be taken away so long as the university does not act on it.
For another student, the decision is simple. Students who do not support Pence do not have to attend.
”There’s been plenty of speakers that have come to grounds that I don’t support, and I just simply don’t go,” she said.
When asked why students might have an issue with Pence speaking on campus, the replies focused on the possibility of offending different communities, his religious affiliation, and his connection to President Donald Trump.
Students then tried defining what constitutes hate speech.
[RELATED: Pence, not Trump, to deliver ND Commencement address]
One student labeled it as speech that, intentionally or unintentionally, “targets specific groups.”
Another student took the definition a leap further, answering it is “something that the government would look at and say ‘hey, you’re a terrorist.’”
One student gave a very loose definition, chalking it up to “you kinda know it when you see it.”
Regardless of campus opinion, Pence’s speech is planned to begin at 7:00 PM in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium. The speech is part of an ongoing lecture series sponsored by Young America’s Foundation and co-hosted by The Jefferson Council.
The event is open to the public at no cost, and attendees will be permitted on a first-come, first-serve basis.
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