The debate resulted partly from a much-publicized incident last January in which a Penn sophomore, Eden Jacobowitz, was charged with racial harassment for calling a group of Black women "water buffalo."

Many Penn students said they thought the incident was blown out of proportion and questioned the administration's commitment to free speech after it held a hearing about the incident.

Section II of the Penn code, the passage challenged by the students, forbids any "verbal or symbolic behavior" that "insults or demeans [a] person on the basis of his or her race, color, ethnicity, or national origin."

This behavior includes the use of "slurs, epithets, hate words, demeaning jokes and derogatory stereotypes."

Two student groups have formed this fall on the Penn campus to respond to the revision of the code and otherissues of free speech at the university.

The First Amendment Task Force urges thesuspension of Section II because, according tosophomore member Dan C. Debicella, it infringes onstudents' right to free speech.

"There's no such thing as a right not to beinsulted," Debicella said, referring to a clausein the code.

He said that with Section II in place, anystudent who says anything even vaguely related torace runs the risk of being disciplined.

But other students formed the Human RightsLeague to voice support for Section II becausethey believe the code will help secure students'"human right...to be treated with dignity andrespect," according to flyers posted by members.

Such debates on issues of free speech andharassment are also heating up on a nationallevel.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterdayin Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. that women nolonger need to show that harassment has causedthem "severe psychological injury" to prove sexualharassment on the job