The Principles of Community is important for Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, many students don't know what it is. I have even heard students say it is nothing more than "a paper on the wall."
I wanted to take the opportunity to express my views of why the Principles of Community is important.
I do so around some common misunderstandings that I have heard uttered on campus about these principles.
The Principles of Community are commonly confused with freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment in the United States Constitution.
As U.S. citizens, we have the right to express our opinion in many different forms including speech, writing, movies, etc. This right is recognized under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and many countries have similar recognition of this right.
If we are guaranteed freedom of expression, why do we need Principles of Community? We need it because the Principles of Community goes beyond the individual right to express an opinion.
The values stated in the Principles of Community document clearly recognize that we live and work in communities, not in isolation. In addition, the Principles of Community implicitly recognizes that we (as humans) do not have a good record of living with each other. Racism, genocide and many other forms of discrimination throughout human history have caused tremendous damage to others, in particular to people who live in close proximity to us, people who are all part of the same community.
Therefore, the Principles of Community tries to find a balance between the individual right of freedom of expression and the rights we all have when we live in a community.
The Principles of Community promotes mutual respect, dignity and understanding. Note that these three ideals might very easily be in conflict with freedom of expression.
I can legally express opinions that are offensive to others or that describe others in ways that rob them of their dignity.
These acts, while protected by the Constitution, are not promoted by the Principles of Community. Again, our individual rights must be balanced with a deep recognition that we live together in a community. We might "control" our behavior and even curtail our freedom of speech a bit to ensure that we recognize the inherent dignity of all human beings.
That is not to say that the Principles of Community is intended to restrict our freedom of expression. As a matter of record, the principles affirm "the right of each person to express thoughts and opinions freely."
However, the principles set the expectation that we behave in a way that creates a climate welcoming to all.
Coincidentally, this idea is clearly expressed in the Hokies Respect campaign.
We have all seen the ads, the stickers and Frank Beamer talking on the JumboTron during the games.
We respect the opponents. They are welcome to our stadium. In my opinion, the Hokies Respect campaign is the best example of the Principles of Community that I have seen on campus.
The sad truth is that we apply this to people from other universities when they visit Lane Stadium more than we apply it to other members of our own community.
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You're a little confused here, there are rights you have like freedom of speech and expression those are real rights. If someone says something you disagree with, he has the right to say his opinion and you have the right to disagree. "Community Rights" don't exist and they certainly do not trump Constitutional Rights. You have the right to verbally engage someone being offensive, that's in the Constitution, but you do not have the right to censor someones speech or actions.
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What anonymous said is partly true i agree with the author too.See if a person has right to speech and other to disagree then this will lead to a argument.when living in a society we need to respect each others opinion and live according to the society.
boris
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I don't believe I used the word censor anywhere in the piece. Besides, it is not an issue of censor. There are lots of examples of community rights. Look at the lease you sign when you rent an apartment, or look at the contract you sign when you buy a house. In either, there are a lot of "restrictions" on your personal rights that have to do with the fact that you live in a community. Nobody questions those as abuses of your constitutional rights. When you pick to be member of a community, you have to abide by the rules of the community. If you do not like an apartment that doesn't let you have parties late at night, you can move elsewhere. It is your constitutional right to party till dawn, just not at that apartment complex. That's not censorship.
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Thank you, Manuel, for sharing and your well written commentary. You have done an excellent job putting into words something I think we've all had so much difficulty trying to understand and/or explain. It is easier to see inappropriate community actions when they are based on what we know individually. Not as easy when we don't consider others' experiences. The whole must stand up for civility and mutual respect. True freedom demands it and will not survive with out it. thanks again.
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To Anonymous: I do not understand your argument with the Principles of Community. First of all the word is "Principles." Have you actually read the Principles of Community lately? They are actually quite basic: treating each other with mutual respect, acceptance, and dignity. If you feel threatened by any of these ideas, you have problems far deeper than can be fixed in a classroom.
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It's not that I disagree with people respecting one another, I disagree with people being forced to respect each other because of some bs principles. As an American you have the right to be as intolerant as you want in what you say and express. I disagree with the author's opinion that our constitutional rights are somehow superseded by this principles of community bologna. The author may not use the word censor but he does advocate that we "'control' our behavior and even curtail our freedom of speech," that's called censorship.
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The author clearly states that the Constitution does, indeed, give us rights, and nowhwere in the article does he suggest that these rights should be superseded by anything. What he does suggest, as I understand it, is that we consider the effects of our words and actions on the larger community. The Principles of Community call for a sense of understanding--or empathy--that we already use in our relationships with friends, family, and significant others. Do we have the right to say hateful, hurtful things to these people in our lives? Certainly. But the relationships may be forever changed because words have consequences--even when we have the right to say them.
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what does "call them out" mean? nothing in particular. sounds like something the president would say. matter of fact, i think ive heard him say that before. and I don't think the principles of community gives us that right. you pretty much already have it without those principles. i think the principles suggest that we should take action when we witness discrimination, threats, and harassment rather than actually giving us the right to take action
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Ennis, the Constitution doesn't give us our rights- It was based on the idea that all human beings have natural (inalienable) rights "that are not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of a particular society or polity (from wikipedia on Natural and legal rights)." Basically no one, especially not VT, can take those away- I think that's the point that Anonymous is trying to make.
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is it me or is the word "community" being tossed around these days a lot. looks like a conscious effort to use that word all over the CT nowadays
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