Thursday, April 05, 2007
"Free speech" at BYU
Granted, Brigham Young University isn't a state school so I can understand them having more leeway in dictating what happens on the campus, but I think this account of a protest against this administration's policies is notable in a few ways: free speech was still abridged - treated as though it's something kids do to pass the time, and tons of people turned out for a demonstration at a school that I assumed is fairly conservative. And, while two campus protests (this and the UNCG incident... which wasn't an anti-war protest specifically but implicitly) is a coincidence (three makes a trend), it makes me hopefully that this is the beginning of a significant college anti-war movement.
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2 comments:
I read your post with interest and a couple of questions come to mind. You say "tons" of students came to the protests. Just how many is that? What were they really protesting? If you know the numbers there what percentage of the student body was represented? Were they all students or were some just there for the fun of it? You also point out the BYU is not a state school which also implies that the freedom of speech really depends upon how the administration defines it. Since it is a private institution they set the rules and you can exercise your freedom by leaving. After all BYU is also a business and you can support or not support that business with your pocketbook.
EN,
As is stated in the linked blog post, student estimates for participation were 100 - 200 at any given point... which wouldn't be "tons" for a protest in NYC or a notoriously liberal school but I was impressed by given the venue. Again, in the linked post it states that they were protesting a visit from Cheney due to disagreement with war policy. I didn't feel the need to state these things explicitly because I assumed people would take advantage of the link I provided.
I think I was pretty explicit, however, in pointing out that a private school has different rights in terms of the use of its campus. Protests can certainly take many forms - I often use my money as a form of social action - spending with vendors whose policies I agree and withholding from those I think are questionable.
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