Issue Date: April 29, 2008 Volume 73, Issue 30
A look at the Free Speech Zone
Zone offers a default location to express sometimes unpopular ideas
By: Christine Hervey | Foghorn
The words ‘free speech zone’ may seem like an oxymoron in a country that prides itself on its peoples’ ability to voice their opinion whenever or wherever they like without being punished, yet DMC and other colleges across the country have implemented these free speech zones.
“The concept of so-called ‘free speech zones’ caught like wildfire at colleges and universities across the country over the past two decades,” according to a First Amendment Center online article entitled “Texas lawmakers consider curbing use of campus speech zones.”
According to the article, “Universities argue the zones facilitate orderly expression. Students say such zones stifle debate by limiting access and by allowing administrators, often the dean of students, to make the final decision on what speech gets heard”.
In the online article “Campus abolishes its free speech zone,” also on the First Amendment Center’s website, students and professors at Western Illinois University successfully had their free speech zone abolished after holding a silent protest.
In the article, Sara Goff, a graduate student, said that having a free speech zone “makes the rest of the campus a censorship zone” and “campuses should be marketplaces of ideas, not a straightjacket on the intellectual minds of the future.”
According to the Foundation for Individuals Rights in Education’s website, www.thefire.org, in 2004 “a federal judge struck down Texas Tech University’s speech code” and “ordered large areas of the university to be opened to free expression.”
According to DMC’s In-House Counsel Mike Westergren, who helped write the school’s Free Speech Policy, DMC’s free speech zone is not so much an infringement on people’s First Amendment right to give public speeches as it is guaranteed to provide a “default outlet” on campus. “Del Mar College is a free speech friendly campus,” he said. “You can say whatever you like, anywhere on campus. The free speech zone was not created to stifle.”
Still, there are some restrictions. Although speeches given in the free speech zone have to be approved by administrators ahead of time, requests are only to be denied in cases of outright illegality or disruptiveness such as the use of bullhorns, which is disruptive, or slanderous speech, which is illegal.
“People are allowed to talk about whatever they like, even if it is an unpopular idea,” Westergren said.
The specific limitations cited in DMC’s free speech policy include advocating the violent overthrow of government, destruction of property, disruption of classes, physical harm to others, or any other violent campus disruption.
According to DMC’s Free Speech Policy, the college “supports all individuals First Amendment rights to free speech, and it is committed to intellectual growth an exploration by means of free exchange of ideas” and the College “recognizes that free speech will sometimes provoke and disturb, but any constitutionally permitted form of speech is permitted on campus.”
DMC’s Free Speech Policy was drafted in late 2004 and early 2005 according to Westergren. The Free Speech Zone is located in front of the Administration Building on the East Campus.
Traditional sleep patterns might be antiquated By: Erica Brown | Foghorn “Early to bed, early to rise,” a quote by Benjamin Franklin seems to be common sense, but does it apply to teenagers and young adults? According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), research in the 1990s found that later sleep and wake patterns are biologically determined and teens and young adults naturally want to stay up later and sleep longer. “I’m aware of research that [indicates that] schools could benefit the needs of the students by starting much later in the day, like 10 or 11 a.m. in order to account for the sleep needs and patterns of adolescents,” said Lee Elliott, DMC psychology instructor. The NSF found in a recently-conducted poll that 60% of children under the age of 18 complained that they were tired throughout the day and 15% said they fell asleep at school during the year. Katy Morgan, a freshman at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (A&M-CC), said that even at the age of 18 she still has trouble falling asleep at night and waking up early in the morning. “My first class is at 9:30 a.m., which means I have to wake up at around 8 a.m. To wake up that early, I would need to be in bed by 11 p.m.,” Morgan said. “Even if I go to bed that early, I’m still exhausted and feel like I need to sleep longer.” Research has shown that some time in late puberty, the body produces the sleeprelated hormone melatonin at a different time than in adulthood, changing the regular sleep-wake pattern. Sending a teen to bed at 10 p.m. means he or she will probably end up staring at the ceiling until late into the night. “The nights that I actually finish my homework somewhat early and get to bed at a decent hour, my brain keeps going until around 1 a.m.,” Morgan said. “I cannot stop thinking about everything that happened during the day and all the stuff I need to do the next day.” According to an article on Stanford University’s website, adolescents need nine hours and 15 minutes of sleep, but they rarely get that much due to early school start time, inability to fall asleep until late, work, social life and homework. The article also said that most teens are chronically sleep deprived and try to catch up on their sleep by sleeping in on the weekends when they should be going to bed and waking up at the same time every day (“good sleep hygiene”). “By the time I am off work, eat dinner, and have done my homework, I’m ready to go out,” Del Mar student Hillary Caceres said. “By 7:30 or 8 p.m., I am wide awake and want to hang out with my friends. I feel guilty, though, because I should be asleep but I’m just not tired yet.” In Sleep Review Magazine, an article entitled “Adolescent Sleep Update” said that a decade ago a group whose area of expertise is education compared 18,000 high school students in the Minneapolis School District changed class time from 7:15 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. during the 1996-97 school year. The researchers compared enrollment, grades, and attendance with sleep patterns acquired from a self-report survey. The article says that attendance improved in grades 9 to 11, the enrollment percentage improved and grades slightly improved. “I have to be enrolled as a full-time student to be on my parents’ health insurance. I would love to start class at 11 a.m., but that would mean I would be at school until 5:30 p.m. I’m so tired and hungry by that time, I cannot pay attention in class,” Caceres said. “I think I would do some much better in my first three classes if I started 11 a.m., but my last class suffers. If I come in at 9:30 a.m., my first class suffers. I can’t win either way,” she said. Survey results from Sleep Review Magazine indicate that high school students who start school early get less total sleep on school nights. To be fully awake, they need to have bedtimes that are impractical and that can result in serious emotional and behavioral consequences for adolescents. Crashes due to lack of sleep are most common in ages 16 to 25, particularly for boys. “I’m 22 and I still hate waking up early,” said A&M-CC student Jimbo Butler. “I just can’t focus and I’m edgy. I feel like I need to sleep longer or take a nap in the middle of the day, but I don’t have time for that. I have to work.” According to the NSF, students are concerned that being in school later in the day means less time for extracurricular activities and after-school jobs. But, a research study by Mary Carskadon, a distinguished expert on adolescent sleep, found that there are several advantages for teens to get the sleep they need such as reduced tardiness, better grades, reduced risk of obesity and less likelihood of depressed moods. “I think if I had time to nap or could have an extra hour or two of sleep, I would feel more active and awake,” Butler said. “Sleep is food for the brain.” DMC student Dax Stringer agrees. “I can only fit so many ‘just five more minutes’ in before I’m late for class,” Stringer said. |
Clubs recognized for service By: Brian Silva | Foghorn 
Muilenburg The Student Activities Office held its annual Registered Student Organizations (RSO) Luncheon last Thursday during which the Club Project of the Year, Most Improved Club, Best Campus Service Award, Club Advisor of the Year and Club of the Year awards were presented. “The awards highlight the accomplishments of the most dedicated clubs this year,” said Kim Pfeifer, Student Government Association-East Campus (SGA-East) president. Pfeifer, a 2007 member of the Hall of Fame, said she thanks the RSO members for their service and commitment to their school and community. The Most Improved Club Award went to Occupational Therapy whose 20 members raised several hundred dollars in the Fall semester, doubled their membership and raised $5,000 in the Spring semester. “It was an effort made by everyone in the club,” said Jeannie Marquez, Occupational Therapy Club president, who is also Student Government Association-West (SGA-West) president. “We always had heart with everything we did.” The Best Campus Service Award went to Restaurant Management, whose members helped prepare food for nearly 10,000 people at the American Bank Center for the annual Feast of Sharing event held by HEB. The Club Project of the Year Award went to the DMC Press Club for the Brown Bag Challenge events they held on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Members assembled bags filled with food and toiletry items and handed them out to the city’s homeless. “I felt very proud that all our unity and hard work was recognized,” said Press Club Vice President Veronica Perez. The Club of the Year award went to the Science Engineering and Math Majors Organization (SEMMO) whose members accumulated a total of 130 activity points. The Club Advisor of the Year Award went to Journalism Instructor Robert Muilenburg who is advisor to the DMC Press Club. “I feel like I’m reaping the benefits of the hard work of a lot of very thoughtful students,” Muilenburg said. Director of Student Activities Homer Ramos said, “This just goes to show that our clubs do a lot in the community, different clubs doing different projects. If we kept up with all our RSOs’ community service hours, it would be over 1,000.” RSO presidents, treasurers and advisors attended the event and were treated to lunch by Student Activities. Prior to the awards, each club was given a moment to tell others about their group’s best project was. The event also included a question-andanswer session during which club members could air concerns. Marquez expressed her concern over the complexities and complications with fund requisitions. She said fund requisitions force students to pull from their own pockets before they’re reimbursed. She also expressed frustration at reimbursements taking longer than they should. Another student from a different club suggested debit cards for clubs. Ramos reminded RSO officers about paperwork they needed to pick up for next year, including a new waiver of liability. SLEEP continued from Page 1 Limbo to victory Students play the limbo game in the Harvin Center last Monday during the End of Semester Bash hosted by the Intramurals department. |
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