warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Restrictions Needed In USC's Often Abused "Free Speech Zone"

Harris Mayersohn |
October 26, 2011 | 4:59 p.m. PDT

Staff Contributor

Religious fanatics at Georgia State University. (Kyle Bayfield, YouTube)
Religious fanatics at Georgia State University. (Kyle Bayfield, YouTube)
As an opinion writer, it should be obvious that I support freedom of speech. I boldly believe that everybody is entitled to the right to say how they feel about anything – whether they state their beliefs while sitting cowardly behind a computer screen (like myself) or while standing on a street corner using a megaphone. Everybody deserves the right to voice their own opinions, as long as they do it peacefully and they respectfully listen to others with countering opinions.

That’s the beauty of America: we, as citizens, can engage in exchanges of free thought about anything we want to with whomever we would like to, whether it be with a good friend or a politician.

Yet, while walking through the glorious part of the University of Southern California’s campus known as the "Free Speech Zone," conveniently located in the area near Tommy Trojan adjacent to the lovely Tutor Campus Center, I always get angered by what I see on a daily basis: non-students on our campus handing out DVDs, books, and pamphlets spouting extremist religious ideologies.

First and foremost, I don’t need to watch a 30-minute DVD endorsed by former "Growing Pains" star-turned-evangelist, Kirk Cameron, to tell me that I’m a, “lying, blasphemous, fornicating sinner who will go to hell” to know that when I die, I will go to hell because I’m a lying, blasphemous, fornicating sinner. I’m well aware of that. I’m okay with it. Honestly, I’m just kind of banking on the Jewish train of thought that a fire and brimstone hell doesn’t even exist.

Second, I have to ask, what are these people doing on campus? USC is a private university, meaning not only do they not need to allow freedom of speech; they do not need to allow people unaffiliated with the school onto the official campus. They can kick people out as their hearts desire. Yet, every week, I see some 60-year-old guy who looks like he just escaped Jesus Camp giving lectures on how ‘misguided’ students can properly repent and find salvation (hint: it usually involves Jesus Christ).

I’m not extremely patient with religious activists who are trying to save souls and convert others to their own faith, to be honest. It’s always been a personal pet peeve, but I understand why people go out of their way to do what they think is a mitzvah.

I’m okay if I’m going somewhere in a major city and I come across a group trying to sell me on their beliefs. I don’t like it, though, when people are in my home, better yet, my place of education, trying to sell me on their beliefs. I hear enough preaching from teachers and TAs all day, and hardly need to hear more when I’m just trying to eat my herb grilled chicken sandwich at Lemonade and sit alone with my own thoughts. I don’t sit outside of churches on Sunday mornings passing out literature praising agnosticism and apathy (usually because I’m not up in time for Sunday mass).

If student organizations want to use the "Free Speech Zone" to further their personal agendas, I’m okay with that. I do not mind a fellow student, who goes to the same school that I do, and walks around the same areas of campus that I do, telling me what he thinks. In fact, I encourage more students to utilize their right to free speech.

I do have a problem, though, with some stranger, whom nobody at school knows anything about (including any potential criminal background) and doesn’t know anything about student life, harassing me with handouts. That’s a one-sided conversation. I have to put up with his beliefs, but he doesn’t have to listen to what I have to say when I stand in the "Free Speech Zone?" That just doesn’t seem like a fair trade-off.

I know it sounds hypocritical, but USC officials need to put some sort of restrictions on the "Free Speech Zone."Preferably something that prevents these outsiders from infiltrating our school. I don’t think too many students would be upset to have one less book or DVD to turn down.

But hey, who am I to preach?



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness