After reading Melissa Burchfield's posting about House Bill 432, I have to say that I agree whole-heartedly with her concern.  As someone who teaches speech and debate courses, the students in these courses handle controversial topics as part of the course and learn to create arguments that are complex and research- based.  This often means that students in the class are presenting and/or listening  to others present issues that the whole class obviously does not agree upon.  We often cover issues that deal with religion, politics and a whole host of issues that could be offensive to a class member.  I think that allowing students to write, speak or debate about issues that they find important is a good exercise in critical thinking and listening for all involved, regardless of whether they agree with the topic or not. There is a line that must be established in class about how to cover such issues in a way that does not marginalize those who do not agree, but nevertheless, those topics are still presented.  I also share Melissa's concern that grading is sometimes seen as a reflection of whether I agree with the argument presented, instead of being based on the merit of the argument itself.

 I think it would very negatively impact my class to ask students to stick to speaking and debating about "safe" topics in fear of offending someone in class. I hope that this is not the situation that will evolve should this bill be passed, but I can see the implications would be very great for those who teach and cover "gray areas".

Jillian Klean Zwilling
Department of Theatre and Speech
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
239 Grote Hall
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37403
(423)425-5537