I stop on the quad in front of a group of young men holding a sign that says “We can stop the war.” An advocate hands me a flyer and encourages me to attend the Campus Antiwar Network meeting on Tuesday evening. “How can we stop the war?” I ask.
His eyebrow raises, and he hesitates before saying, “Come to the meeting to find out!”
“The meeting sounds great, but how can we stop the war?”
“Just come to the meeting and you’ll find out,” he states before scurrying off to address another Illini.
I turn to the man holding the sign. “How can we stop the war?”
“Well, we have to evoke the same anger and protest that fired the Vietnam protests. Talk to your friends, your classmates. Make this a common issue,” he passionately states.
Less than one hundred feet from a small classroom devoted weekly to First Amendment discussion, a group of young Americans exercises their right in the very way the Framers desired. These young men were peacefully assembling and speaking freely to promote additional free speech and peaceful assembly. Students everywhere use their right to assemble peacefully.
On September 30, 1998, Operation Standard, a conservative group at Clemson University in South Carolina, also exercised their First Amendment rights. They petitioned against the “homosexual agenda” of a spoken word tour set to hit campus the next day. The Spitfire tour featured an Indigo Girl, a former grunge king, and an actor collaborating to address a handful of issues including gay rights. The event was free to students of Clemson University due to a $20 activity fee collected each semester. A spokesperson for the group said that if the University did not comply with the petition's requests to shut down the event and ban "others like it" or refund the $20 per-semester student fees, the group will file a lawsuit against the institution. The “others like it” comment refers to a 1998 decision that ruled the use of student fees to fund activist groups on a campus in violation of the First Amendment.
Ironically, in protest of Spitfire, Operation Standard promoted some of the event’s ideals. Former Nirvana bassist and Spitfire moderator Krist Novoselic stated, “Our agenda as a group is to promote free speech. We're encouraging anybody who wants to send out a press release or speak out or show up in protest or get up during the question-and-answer session to do so. That's great; that's what this about" (1).
Earlier in 1998, high school students in Irmo, South Carolina protested after their school cancelled an Indigo Girls concert due to the musicians’ homosexuality and lyrics. The students were suspended for their protest and then filed suit against their superintendent. Unlike in Tinker, these students disrupted their learning by not attending their second period classes for the protest (2). The court denied the students’ request for a preliminary injunction (3).
If the students had protested after the school day, would they still have been suspended? Would the court have ruled in the same way? Honestly, I think the outcome would be the same. If the school was conservative enough to cancel a free concert based on the musician’s sexuality, they would find a way to silence an activist for a gay musician.
Furthermore, does the use of student fees to fund activist groups on a campus really violate First Amendment rights? I stand on middle ground, torn between both sides. On one hand, the viewpoints of another group can only strengthen one’s own. If an institution provides events for opposing activist groups, an excellent learning experience would be provided. On the other hand, should a student be forced to financially support a cause they oppose under any circumstance? My favorite Framer, Thomas Jefferson, stated, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
Overall, student protest is one of the greatest actions, no matter what's the side. Find a cause, and make a difference. We're students; let's protest.
Sources:
(1)http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/502231/19980930/indigo_girls.jhtml
(2)http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/200060/19980512/indigo_girls.jhtml
(3)http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/250018/19980513/indigo_girls.jhtml
Indigo Girls - Shame on You
2 comments:
Nicely done. I think that's a nice statement: "We're students; let's protest." We have the right to peacefully assemble, and if we don't do it, that right is going to waste.
I find it humorous that in protesting Spitfire, the protest group supported the ideals of Spitfire itself.
I think I agree that if the students protesting the concert getting canceled were to have protested after school hours, they would not have been suspended.
Nice work, see you next week.
-Alex
I love your very last line! It makes me want to go out there and protest, protest, protest! To address the issue if students should have to pay a fee that would bring people with controversial or opposing viewpoints to a school, I think they should pay. If the students didn't pay, then there would be a charge to attend the event which would probably mean that not many people would attend and only those interested in the issue or viewpoint would attend. By making it free, the speakers have a bigger audience that they are able to reach out to and expand the marketplace of ideas to everyone. The students that protested should not have been punished because they missed a class, but this did not affect anyone but themselves. I think you're right about how the court would have ruled if the girls protested after school. It seems like high school students are losing their rights left and right nowadays.
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