Liberal Arts Honors Programs | College of Liberal Arts
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Upper Division Scholarship

Upper-Division Scholarships - 15 at $2000

The deadline for Upper-Division Scholarship applications is September 25, 2024 at midnight.

Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors in LAH Scholars and Humanities Honors are eligbile to apply.  Students pursuing College Honors may also apply if they have completed on LAH seminar and are registered for a second one. 

Submit your response, resume, and brief statement of financial need through the LASSO Scholarship portal by going to "Apply Now" and finding the scholarship under your "Tasks."  You can also access the application directly in LASSO. 

ESSAY PROMPT

What the poet must not be allowed to say is that those who were punished were made wretched through god’s action.  He may refer to the wicked as wretched because they needed punishment, provided that he makes clear that in punishing them god did them good.  But if a state is to be run on the right lines, every possible step must be taken to prevent anyone, young or old, either saying or being told, whether in poetry or prose, that god, being good, can cause harm or evil to any man. 

  • Plato, The Republic, Part III

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

U.S. Bill of Rights, Amendment I

To suppress free speech is a double wrong.  It violates the right of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.  It is just as criminal to rob a man of his right to speak and hear as it would be to rob him of his money.

  • Frederick Douglass

Words are subject to persecution as if to prove the old truth beloved by Leo Tolstoy: “The word is action”.  Probably, words really are an action, and a crippling one if a person is given years, prisons and labor camps for it; if for entire years, or decades, great poetry and great prose – novels, poems, verses, stories – essential to everyone, are unable to make their way into the light, to the reader.

  • Lydia Chukovskaya, in the newspaper Izvestie

There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech.  Free speech encourages debate whereas hate speech incites violence.

  • Newton Lee

What is free speech and what limits, if any, should there be on it?  In your response, you can focus on any society or time period you wish, but the more detailed and specific, the better.  As always, be sure to cite your sources.

More information

For more information contact the Liberal Arts Honors Office, or email lahscholarships@austin.utexas.edu with any questions.

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