Spring Break
Free speech doesn't come free for us
Student rights awareness workshop set for Monday
By: Megan Keyho
Issue date: 1/23/09 Section: News
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The program is a 90-minute interactive workshop, "Free Speech: Balancing Freedoms with Our Aggie Values." It will be led by Saundra "Saunie" Schuster, who is a partner with the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management and co-author of The First Amendment On Campus: A Handbook for College and University Administrators.
It is an interactive program designed to enhance awareness about free speech rights. During the program, participants will use a clicker to respond to questions and scenarios from Schuster's book.
"The idea is to balance our freedom with respecting each other's values and beliefs," said Carol Binzer, director of student life. "Aggies should be able to make each other better by allowing each other to get out of our comfort zones. The University is a marketplace of ideas, and there is never just one brand."
She said the purpose of the workshop is to educate students on their rights and how to express them while being respectful.
"I want them to know what their freedoms are," Binzer said. "You are going to cross paths with people that have divergent opinions. The first question is do you listen to them, and the second is, how do you litigate it?"
"I've always heard that free speech doesn't come free. It is great that our school is actually putting on a workshop to teach people about their rights since so many don't know exactly what their rights are," said Krystal Green, a sophomore biomedical science major.
"I think this is going to be really helpful, especially with it being after the inauguration of the new president. I've never seen something like this advertised as much as it is this year, I even got a Facebook message about it," said Beth Grimnes, a senior civil engineering major.
More Information
To sign up for the workshop, go to http://studentlife.tamu.edu/freedomofspeech.html. There is an anonymous quiz on the First Amendment that participants are asked to take prior to the workshop at https://www.splc.org/falawtest. There are two sessions of the program in Rudder Theatre, one from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with a light lunch, and a second session from 5 to 6:30 p.m. with a light dinner.
Be sure to include your name, major, and class year. Submissions without this information are subject to deletion.
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