As an alumnus of Ohio University (BA Public Administration 1997), I was saddened and disappointed to read the University Policy 24.016 on Free Speech Zones allowing for organized protests of events only inasmuch as the protest is not disruptive to any university activity.
While I generally dislike the idea of shouting down speakers and always prefer reasoned discourse, I fully support the right of students and opposition groups to protest, carry signs or generally make asses of themselves so long as they violate no law in the process. By forcing a group to seek approval to protest and then sequestering them off in some special zone designated for such protest, the university is completely eliminating any efficacy the protest may have had in the first place.
I ask the university to rethink this issue and to adjust their regulations accordingly so that all students may be exposed to the benefit of debate and protest in action and not forced to endure the laughable Free Speech that is administered with permission from the oligarchs above.
17 Archives
Letter to the Editor
