Danielle Williams WRD 103 Essay 3 Im one of those people that would like to think Im protected by the first

Amendment and can say what I want but as a college student but can I really? I believe we should all have academic freedom, it comes with the territory. College students are the most active, outspoken, opinionated people in the world so shouldnt we be able to express ourselves on campus without being scrutinized by University Officials? Back in 2005 DePaul sent a threatening warning email to a Republican Group on campus about putting up flyers that DePaul didnt like or approve of. Apparently a guy named Churchill was coming and the group posted a flyer calling him a hate monger. Now lets rewind. I go to the cafeteria at DePaul all the time and I walk past two beams used to post flyers BUT..as you approach the beam it says you cannot post any flyers. I always wondered why and apparently its because you need formal approval for posting your flyer. Why is it that in a college full of rowdy outspoken college students we need approval to post our opinions? Yes it may eliminate the overflow of unnecessary flyers but what about the ones that express a valid point or common opinion amongst a group of students. Why cant they just let people post their flyers and above it post a sign that says the beliefs expressed below does not reflect nor coincide with the beliefs of this University and call it a day. Thats what should be done. Some would argue that there should be a limit to what a person could post on a flyer in a university setting. It could be viewed as degrading or disrespectful to a specific group of people. These people would act against the University for allowing this to happen but it would also take away some of the power of the academic freedom that the university is supposed to enforce. Its college. How can you limit freedom of any kind at the place thats supposed to be all about freedom? We all anticipate college because its a point in life when you become an adult and are free from the hand of your parents. You no longer have to go by their rules or beliefs and you can formulate your own. When you go to college you now have the freedom to express yourself..Or so you thought. Recently in class we watched clips on the Westborogh family whos the most hated family in America. I came home and did more research and its a family of five that attends the church. This church is probably the most hateful and vulgar church ever through their beliefs that gay people, war soldiers and everyone else is damned. Crazy right? Well it turns out that some years ago one of the daughters named Lauren from the family of five didnt agree with their views and expressed her opinion. The church then voted and she was kicked out of her parents house. Now what if Lauren came to DePaul and was in that Republican Group and posted that flyer? As far as freedom of speech and academic freedom, in what way is DePaul not like her parents? Being limited and oppressed by the same thing we thought we escaped.

How do I think it should be? Well I mean not just to DePaul but to every University.the question that stands: Is the controversy really what you want? I would just allow the students to express themselves freely academically and slap a big band aid on it saying the University has nothing to do with those views or you can have a constant battle with the people. Some may argue that if any student or faculty speaks out it inevitably represents the institution theyre associated with. I say thats absolutely absurd. So if I thought less of or wasnt fond of a certain race, religion or culture of people and spoke out about it thats to say the University feels that way as well? NO. If a universitys opinion is reflected by the opinions of students within that institution then there would be absolutely no standards or missions for schools. There are so many different opinions in a university that if each opinionated person spoke out it would be impossible to say that theyre a reflection of the universitys views. This is primarily because the views of people within the institution are different. A University is comprised of people (both students and faculty) with varied opinions but thats not to say that any one persons opinions reflect those of the university. Institutions like DePaul thrive on diversity. Diversity can be thought of in an academic/opinion aspect. So theyre basically saying come to DePaul because were diverse in everything (culture, financial status, race, gender, religion) except opinion? NO. Difference of opinion and beliefs are expected at all universities, not just DePaul. Therefore the sensible thing to do when a person speaks out about something that doesnt coincide with the universitys beliefs is to throw out a disclaimer. Or You can choose the hard way and basically have to reword every rule you have just so that the students are forced to do and say what you want without finding any loop holes. But is that the academic freedom were promised as people by attending a University?