I am dealing with a free speech issue on my campus. Being student government President, I hear about what students want, and a majority of them are asking for speech zones, or to remove the individual because they offend them. Here is the student government press release. PRESS RELEASE FROM ASNMU REGARDING CAMPUS SPEAKERS Press Release 1/2014 On 8/29/2014, ASNMU President Kat Klawes and Alex Nekvasil Public Relations Director spoke with the Dean of Students concerning recent protests on campus. On August 26th through August 28th, protestors were voicing opinions related to religious values in the academic mall. This protest caused student concern and prompted ASNMU to reach out to the student body by offering students opportunities to submit statements on their opinion of the matter. One venue students were able to submit statements was through email where over 20 students submitted statements. Additionally, President Klawes and other ASNMU members; Rachel McCaffery, Mitchell Sevigny, and Sara Spragg collected written feedback from students on August 28th between 11:30-4:30 by hosting a table in the academic mall. Over 120 statements have been collected as of 9/1/2014, which were shared with the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students Christine Greer, issued the following statement in response to a meeting with ASNMU, “A public university is considered a limited public forum. As such, we may not decide who can come to campus to speak based on the content of their views or presentations; we must be viewpoint-neutral. We cannot ban anyone because we dont like what they are going to say. Under the First Amendment, individuals do have a right to speech that the listener disagrees with and to speech that is offensive and hateful. We cannot censor a speaker. We may limit speech by time, place and manner restrictions but these must be reasonable. For instance, it is reasonable to tell speakers that they may not use amplified sound. It is reasonable to tell speakers they may only speak outside and may not go door-to-door in the residence halls. It is not reasonable to restrict them to an area of campus where there is no student traffic or to say they may only speak from 7:00 - 7:15 a.m.” President Klawes has released a personal statement concerning the issue, “I think that this event has presented a valuable opportunity to start a dialogue about the importance of free speech and respecting and following rules of etiquette. I personally feel that the exchange of ideas and opinions is a valuable part of the college experience. I also hope, that while the exchange of ideas is being had, that members of the NMU community and those who are on campus property follow rules of etiquette. Those rules of etiquette include not forcing ideas upon those who do not want to hear them or partake in the dialogue, and not causing a disruption that will effect classroom learning. Although there is no rule that can govern and force individuals to follow rules of etiquette I strongly hope that they will be followed regardless.” President Klawes, ASNMU Public Relations Director Alex Nekvasil and Alex Hawke an Off-Campus Representatives met with President Erickson on 9/2/2014 regarding the issue where student feedback was shared. President Erickson said in response “Free exchange of ideas is very important at a university. A university must be open to new ideas, different thoughts, and one must feel free to express themselves.” Alex Hawke said in response to the meeting with President Erickson, “President Erickson was very receptive to the student responses.” Erickson also stated, “I appreciate the passion in the student’s responses.” ASNMU plans to continue to the discussion regarding campus free speech. Students may still submit statements to ASNMU by emailing [email protected].
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 03:55:22 +0000