Reading banned books, holding signs outside the HUB-Robeson Center and duct-taping their mouths shut, students celebrated Constitution Day by expressing their right to free speech Thursday.
About 15 students from CAS 375 (Rhetoric and Public Controversy) sat alongside the HUB-Robeson Center main entrance, holding a long sign reading, "We're not allowed to be expressive here."
Kaila Gogal (senior-communication arts and sciences) said the main objective was to let students know where their rights stood on the Penn State campus.
"Under university policy, there's Policy AD-51, which lists the restricted places students and others can openly express themselves," Gogal said.
The policy lists certain places on campus where students can engage in "expressive activity," including Old Main patio, the Allen Street Gates and the area between Willard Building and the Obelisk.
The students were presented with the challenge of creating a project for Constitution Day by their professor, Rosa Eberly.
"We're not just celebrating Constitution Day," Eberly said. "We're practicing using our First Amendment rights."
During their 15-minute protest, the students gathered a lot of attention from those walking by.
"Hey, you're breaking the rules!" one student yelled jokingly as he walked past.
Will Morgan (senior-psychology) felt the need to further express his rights by pouring water on a poster taped to the floor, stating a list of places students could openly express themselves on campus.
The act brought a round of applause from students nearby.
"I think it's bullshit that there are certain places that you can have freedom of speech," Morgan said. "I think it's even more ridiculous having to go through permits and all to form groups and
speak your mind."
Jason Traverse (senior-communication arts and sciences) said one of the reasons the class decided to sit in front of the HUB was in response to the traveling preachers that had raised controversy on campus in the past weeks.
"The university says you can't be active, you can't be expressive here, yet here are these preachers yelling at the top of their voices, and the school doesn't do anything?" Traverse said. "They are breaking school rules and no one is doing something about it, so we're here to bring awareness."
Later in the day, other students read books that had been banned in the past, ranging from Harry Potter to The Giver, outside of Pattee Library to emphasize their right to free speech.
Standing outside the library, Jeremy Cohen, associate vice president and senior associate dean for undergraduate education, said spreading knowledge through free speech is imperative.
"These students are trying to make the point that we become afraid of books and words, and these books turn out to be our friends," he said. "We should never be so afraid that we prevent even the worst ideas from having public exposure."
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