VIDEO: NAU Administration Shuts Down 9/11 Event
Northern Arizona University (NAU) doesn't want students to remember 9/11.
At least that's the message that NAU is sending to members of the Conservatives club who were interrupted and threatened by university administrators for four hours on Friday.
These actions by the administration occurred when the conservatives passed out American flags, buttons, stickers, and posters to students as part of the YAF 9/11: Never Forget Project.
The group was confronted for setting up their own table inside the university union, instead of registering with Student Life to request a space. After several administrators hassled them about the project, the club members took down the table and put it away along with the posters. In order to still remember 9/11, and comply with the administrators, Conservatives Club stood against the wall and handed out American flags to passerby.
This was not enough for the administration. They continued to go out of their way to intimidate, threaten, and interrupt the project.
Two students are currently being charged with several misconduct violations, and the club as a whole is facing suspension even though the event did not display the club's name in any way.
The event paid reverence to the innocent victims that were lost and the broken families that were left behind. This is an example of how an act of free speech can go terribly wrong when students' rights are infringed upon by leftist university bureaucrats.
Did administrators give you a hard time for your 9/11 memorial? Write about it on Campus Reform or contact your Regional Field Coordinator today for advice and assistance.
Read another account of the story here.
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Comments
http://flagliberty.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/free-speech-is-dead-at-nau/
Sep 11, 9:01 am
This is really impressive Stephanee. I think it will be interesting to see this play out, but also to use this to inspire students to stand up to the speech codes implemented on college campus'. Great job to the students for standing up and of course, to you for setting a great example and tone for the rest of us.
Sep 13, 7:55 am
Question: Can someone please define what does "time place and manner mean?" Answer: Easy whatever the bureaucracy wants it to be.
This is sick.
Sep 11, 6:24 pm
The university can only regulate "time, place, and manner" WITHIN REASON, not arbitrarily. The Conservatives Club's time, place, and manner was very reasonable, not disruptive; the administration just wants control and power over the speech and activities of students. The university has to give valid reasons for why the "time, place, and manner" of the free speech is disruptive, impeding the flow of traffic, causing a hazard, etc. It didn't; it complained that their oppressive process wasn't followed. And how exactly was their tabling (and then just standing handing out flags without a table) a fire hazard?
Sep 12, 8:46 am
I think Tony assesses the campus regulation perfectly.
However, regardless of whether the campus regulation is legitimate, don't these bureaucrats have something more they're paid to do than heckle kids that want to pass out flags?
To me the situation shows that if campus administrators have enough free time to be worrying about this kind of stuff then they obviously aren't serving any real purpose for the university and can be laid-off!
Sep 13, 11:49 am
Good work guys. Let us clear a few things up for the university admins who are viewing this page. Time, Place and Manner does not, has never and will never mean that you can set up "First Amendment zones". Attempts to do so have always failed in the courts and universities that have enacted them have had them successfully challenged in federal court and in some cases paying damages/attorney’s fees.
“Time, Place, and Manner” comes into effect if the purpose of the demonstration is not speech, but rather to disrupt and prevent others from leaving or getting around the speech event.
Here are some examples:
Standing on the wall in a wide hallway or foyer doesn’t even come close, and if the university has ever let anyone set up a booth or table there than the university has already lost. If the university has bulletin boards there for people to stop and read those people would be taking up the same space as two students handing out flags on 9-11.
Under these circumstances it means that the university knew that such a small demonstration was allowable and the result would be the university suffering a humiliating defeat in court, and could also subject the administrators to a section 1983 lawsuit because they would have or should have reasonably known that they were using the color of law to selectively violate these students First Amendment rights by abusing the public trust using color of law. If a section 1983 lawsuit were successful it would mean that those students whose rights were violated could go after the personal assets of the said offending administrator.
Sep 18, 9:56 pm