Deeming hate speech to be a problem that must be addressed, as many as 70 percent of the more than 3,500 institutions of higher learning in America may have some sort of code designed to restrict speech deemed offensive, with punishments specified for students who continue to use religious or ethnic epithets and racist or sexist language. The material in this book debates the issue of how to deal with this problem and whether speech codes are an appropriate strategy. The book first presents excerpts from the relevant U.S. Supreme Court cases that deal with free expression. The cases discussed provide ringing endorsements for the values of a free marketplace of ideas as well as cases such as "Chaplinsky's" prohibition on "fighting words" and "Beauharnais's" prohibition on "group libel." Collectively, the cases arm the reader with an array of legal options that can be applied to form one's own opinion as to what a constitutionally acceptable speech code might contain. The book then presents four case studies and a court case of speech code conflicts on college campuses. They portray the controversies that prompted decisions to adopt codes and/or alternate approaches, of the development of codes or other strategies, and of the subsequent history of speech disputes on the respective campuses. The final section of papers includes several excerpts of commentary about free speech in general and university codes in particular. The three bodies of material presented aim to be an overall case study of an ongoing issue that goes to the heart of our constitutional schema and raises important questions about the nature of our academic communities. Discussion questions accompany each chapter.