Our Voice

    Last week Micah Armstrong, a traveling evangelist, preached his message of repentance at the campus Free Speech Zone last week.
    This zone is an area set aside in public places for activists to exercise their right of free speech. These areas are based on U.S. court decisions specifying that the government may regulate the time and place, but not the content of expression.
    The Free Speech Zone at GCSU, if you did not already know, is the GCSU Bobcat logo on Front Campus.
    The question The Colonnade would like to address is: Did Armstrong use the Free Speech Zone appropriately?
    The technical answer to this question is no.
    He violated the rules of the Free Speech Zone by not giving prior notice that he would be speaking on Front Campus. Under Free Speech Zone rules, the speaker is asked to give prior notice before speaking, so that the institution may find ways to protect the speaker.
    But despite Armstrong’s technical mistake, he used the     Free Speech Zone exactly the way its inventors intended. 
    As a liberal arts university, the core of education is to be open to new ideas and views.
    The fact that Armstrong came on Front Campus and challenged our beliefs enabled the students to look at their own values and evaluate themselves.
    So, in a way, Armstrong opened our eyes to other views and  helped us become aware of other people’s values and beliefs.
    His preaching gathered people together and gave us a chance to share our experiences.
    Armstrong might have used his free speech to incite and enrage people, but  nonetheless, he is still protected. Some would argue this is not the purpose of the Free Speech Zone. We say it is exactly why it is there.
    The purpose of the zone is to improve the University by bringing new ideas and views to our school. Though Armstrong had no support behind his argument, blindly accusing students of sinning, his ideas still sparked more relevant conversations among his gathered listeners. 
    Armstrong might have had better success if he had prepared a more elaborate and supported argument. By attacking our morals and beliefs, all he did was anger people. Most students did not respected what he said, but they had to respect his right to say it.
     In the end, though many students disagreed with him, Armstrong did the campus a favor.
    He let students know that this university does have a Free Speech Zone.
    We need to use this zone more and make it a place of insight. It is a shame that the only time this zone is used is when preachers come to campus and upset the student body.

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Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 10 2006. Filed under Opinion, Our Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry