Left of College Station

Program Explores Aggies' Attitudes About Free Speech

By Vimal Patel

From the Bryan-College Station Eagle

Preacher Bob -- an inflammatory street preacher who travels to campuses nationwide -- calls women who wear slacks and sport short hair "whores," and says they'll burn in hell right alongside the fornicators, gays and Catholics.

First Amendment expert Saundra Schuster posed a question to a crowd of a few hundred Aggies on Monday morning: Are the agitator's actions protected speech, or do they cross the line to harassment, which is not protected?

About 42 percent -- or 75 respondents -- called it harassment. They were wrong. "The courts have consistently said that he is within his right," Schuster said.

The interactive program, titled "Free Speech: Balancing Freedoms with Our Aggie Values," was organized to provide education about campus free speech issues. Schuster also delivered the same presentation in the evening.

The university recently received several complaints ranging from the actions of student groups to what's printed in the campus paper, said Carol Binzer, director of student life, who helped organize the event. Binzer also is chair of the student media board, which serves as an advisory board to The Battalion, the campus' student newspaper.

"I'm concerned about how many times people say they shouldn't have printed that letter or that opinion," she said. "[This lecture] was about the need for better education. We're educating leaders for a global society. We want them to be savvy and proud of their constitutional rights."

Respondents at the voluntary forum beamed their responses to a series of First Amendment scenarios through controllers that look like a cross between a TV remote and cell phone.

The responses were immediately shown on the giant projection screen in Rudder Theatre, flanked by two white banners on either side, one proclaiming the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and the other listing the Aggie values of loyalty, integrity, excellence, leadership, selfless service and respect.

"The question is, how can we fully exercise our right to free speech while also being true to our Aggie values?" asked Texas A&M University President Elsa Murano, during her introduction. "The purpose of this workshop is to answer that question."

Binzer said the meeting wasn't in response to any incident in particular, but acknowledged the most speech-related attention on campus recently arose from actions by the Texas A&M chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas.

Prior to the election, the group held an event where they encouraged students to hurl eggs at a poster of candidate Barack Obama. Some students criticized the event as immature and insensitive. A leader of the group had said the egg represented the nest egg Americans build to save for retirement.

"They were trying to make a point," Binzer said, "and be bold in making that point. I respect their right to."

Schuster's presentation posed several other free speech-related questions. And as the lecture progressed, it appeared the audience tended to fall more on the side of freedom.

About 84 percent -- or 148 respondents -- answered "yes" to a question about whether foul language at sporting events was protected speech.

Alex Raducanu, a freshman electrical engineering major, maintained that the street preacher's actions weren't protected speech.

But the 19-year-old said he's still figuring out what is and isn't acceptable -- that's why he attended the morning event after seeing a flier.

Though he admitted to belting out a few expletives during Aggie football and basketball games.

"Only when the score's really close," he said.

Published Tuesday, January 27, 2009