OCR Text |
Show I I. I .,. . KY THE THUNDEABIRDO SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVEASITYD THURSDAY JANUARY 16, 1992DPAGE 4 TRY COMMUTING WITH COURTESY n campus comiputing is an area where our courtesy is of special importance. With the incredible growth of SUU, there are more students coming and going than ever before. After class is out, we head for home, crossing campus by car, bicycle, or on foot. 0 CARSICK. In our hurry to get there, let's not forget the other guy. Tiu Thunderbird finds that all too often pedestrians crossing the thru-way between the Physical Plant and the Student Center must dodge the cars rocketing through. There are signs posted indicating this is a service street, not the straight-away in the Indy 500. We believe the ideal solution to be a pair of permanent speed bumps there to discourage this activity. Once a car has slowed enough to go over the bump, it has slowed enough for pedestrians to notice it, and clear the street. While skateboards and Rollerblades are prohibited means of transportation on campus, many students opt to commute to the university and in between classes by bicycle. In the past there have been complaints, and suggestions to prohibit bicycles on campus. Therefore, cyders beware: As you weave through walking traffic on the sidewalks let it be with courtesy and caution, lest this privilege' be removed as well. LET US HAVE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL s students of SUU, we have an interest in the appearance and beauty of our campus. How well the sidewalks, the lawns, and the buildings look affects the way we feel everyday as we study, and enjoy our surroundings between our work in the classroom. A While sidewalks are located both aesthetically and functionally, we feel that there is an area, located between the LibraryJ at the top of the hill, and the Dixie Leavitt Business Building at the bottom, which could use a stairway. In lieu of the descending zig-zagging sidewalk, an unsightly trail connecting the two buildings is omnipresent. The Thunderbird feels that a stairway, although not artfully located, would be much superior to what remains there year-round. SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY O CEDAR CITY, UTAH Editor Ka1hlem Clove Am Editor Manapn1 Editor Nawie Coomt. Opinion Dil'cctor David Johmon Copy Editor Jennifer M orley Photo Editor Eric Roderick Pmduction Sporta Editor Jay Hinton c~ Tuclctt M--cer Rachelle Mullennax Adwrtiaing ~ Jd Anderson Ben Blackbum Staff Production Head Lynn Dennett FIICU!ty Advucer Larry Baker T1w T1uJrn,i,d is published ea.ch Monday and Thunday of rhe academic ,a, by and for !he student body of Southern Utah Univenity and is no< allil~ted wirh the Univenity'1 dq,artmmt of communication. 1bc views and opinions ap=-1 in T1w T1wndnl,i,d att rhooe ol individual writers and do DOI oecasarily reOect r.he vicwa o( r.he in1titution. faculty, staff or atudent body in general The unsigned editorial directly alx>Ye is !he opinion ol Tlrt T1-Jr,/;inJ as a single entity. Ldters to !he editor mull be typed and include r.he name and phone number. Only the name will be printed Names will no< be withheld wider any ciraumtances and the editor re9efYtl editing privileges. Leuers muat be submitted by noon Fridays for Monday editions; 5 p.m. Tueodays for Thursday editions. Grinanca: Any individual with a grievanoc against Tlrt 1Nrdnl,ird should direct such problem firat to r.he editor. If unrcsolY<d, that grievanoc should then be din:cted to r.he advixr. If still unrcsolvul, the gric:vanoc ohould be din:ctcd to the SUU Publications Council, 586-7710. Tl,, Tlwttlnl,a,d: offices in SUU Technology Building 003. Mail at SUU Box 93114, Cedar City, UT 84720. Phone (801) 586-7757, 586-7758, 586-7750, 5116-~. FAX 586-5487 ACCESS Freedoms are won through strife 'Access' is a recum'ng column through which members of the campus community may address themsewes to topics of concern an.d interest. Today's column is by P aul W . Rea, director of writing at the departmenJ of language and literature. Now that the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights is over, Americans might question whether the rights they now enjoy really sprang from the pens of the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson and others accomplished many great things, but freedom of speech was not among them. In fact, when Jefferson became president in 1801 , his administration prosecuted tllOtt than 2,000 of its critics, including a minister who had chided the president in a ICl'IDOn. In a A Ptople's CnatUT: The Purswl of Rights in Ammca, renowned historianJames MacGregor Burm and his son Stewart trace America's long battle to forge freedoms. their thesis is that our fundamental rights are ' 'not primarily the c reatio n of establishments" but of writers and speakers " who actually shaped and lived them in the thick of personal and social struggles.'' In 1909, for instance, activist Emma Goldman gave a speech on dramatist Henrik Ibsen, whose plays had ignited controversies. New York police stood about the packed hall as a sergeant mounted the podium to announce that Goldman could proceed only if she talked about drama, not politics. But when Goldman began, the sergeant ruled that she couldn't even mention Ibsen's name. The crowd, at first amused by the absurdity of the order, soon found itself bounced from the hall with billyclubs. Such outrageous violations of the First Amendment were commonplace: Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger often spent nights in jail for lecturing on birth control, and, in the late 1920s, Nobel-Prize-winning philosopher Bertrand Russell got fired from the University of California for the same offense. During the 1920s, the Industrial Workers of the World (or "Wobblies") initiated a campaign for free speech. Wobblies would gather in cities that had banned public spe.a king and step up on a soapbox, one by one, knowing that they'd get arrested. Soon enough, all available jails and schools were overflowing. But, disregarding the Constitution, the courts usually upheld the bans on speaking, Jeafletting, and even assembling. According to David Kairys, a law professor at T emple U nive.rsity, before Ute 1930s most courts also upheld the "bad tendency" doctrine, meaning that any expression possibly leading to disorder could be suppressed. This included anything that prominent politicians, businessmen, or clergy didn' t want said. But the Depression weakened the control of such establishments, and its massive unemployment and political unrest p-eatly intensified the demands for free expression. Freedom of speech as we know it today stems from the hard-won victories of several struggles: for labor , for women's and for civil rights. Students pushed for greater expression during the 1960s. Courageous Americans had to fight for the freedoms supposedly guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, often at considerable risk. Our history suggests that our freedoms cannot be taken for granted-that we must renew our rights by using them . That's one reason I'm piping up about some history that got lost in the celebration last year. |