On Wednesday, 4 March 2015, the Bard Debate Union hosted a public debate on the topic, “Resolved: hate speech should be criminalized.” The questions that motivated our debate are: should there be limits to the freedom of speech? Or should the freedom of speech be protected at all costs, even when speech becomes violent, racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.? Would a limitation on the freedom of speech in the United States necessarily be unconstitutional? The participants in the debate were Hanze Song and Antoinette Kane (representing the Proposition side) and Eva-Marie Quinones and Cole Rainey-Slavick (representing the Opposition side). Stephanie Presch was our moderator. It was a fabulous debate that drew a big audience and generated over 40 minutes of Q&A. Great job to Eva-Marie for organizing the debate and to all of the participants. Go Bard Debate!
