Arbiter Online: Secular students call ‘censorship’

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On Oct. 17, a tailgate arranged in conjunction with Parent and Family Weekend turned into a confusing and frustrating event for one particular student organization.

Lloyd Lowe, president of the Boise State Secular Student Alliance, says his group was discriminated against when they were asked to remove a banner from their booth. The banner read, "Outgrown your imaginary friend?"

The BSSSA was invited to participate in the tailgate via an e-mail from Assistant Director for Student Activities Charlie Varland. Varland’s e-mail asked the invited groups to prepare an activity for guests to participate in at their booth and to pass out information about their organization.

"The impression we got is that it was an opportunity to spread information about ourselves," Lowe said.

Lowe directed an e-mail to Associated Students of Boise State University Project Manager Ashlee Mendive asking, "What do we need to know?" Mendive responded with the date, and time to set up.

"I asked about any specific things I needed to know about when I was organizing our table and our booth there," Lowe said. "No one told me I wasn’t allowed to act like an atheist."

The day of the event, Lowe set up his booth and left. Upon returning, he found his banner taped upside down. While trying to reposition it, he was approached by Brian MacDonald, director of New Student and Family Programs. MacDonald told him to speak with Director of Student Activities Kelly Stevens.

"This was an event for parents and families to come and just relax and enjoy family weekend, not engage in dialogue about religion and spirituality," MacDonald said. "Something that is a very sensitive topic to some people, we thought that the poster should be taken down."

Stevens informed Lowe that she had received complaints regarding the banner and that he must replace the banner or leave. He decided to replace the banner, and was allowed to remain at the event.

But Lowe and his group believe removing the poster was an act of discrimination.

ASBSU President Trevor Grigg agrees that the banner should not have been removed. Grigg’s executive staff, along with the ASBSU Senate, co-sponsored the tailgate with a contribution of $1,800.

"I know what this particular banner or poster said, and I’ve seen it in the Quad before," Grigg said. "And they should have the right to show it if they want. It’s freedom of speech and I don’t see what the problem is."

MacDonald said he supports BSSSA and didn’t feel that this particular situation is a matter of freedom of speech, but rather an issue of the goal of the event. His vision was for each organization to provide some kind of interactive activity for students and their families to engage in, which several of the participating student organizations did not do.

Mendive, who helped coordinate the event, acknowledges that the role the student organizations were to play at the tailgate wasn’t conveyed very clearly.

"It’s always a learning experience, especially this event," Mendive said. "I’m sure there could have been a lot more communication on, ‘This is allowed, this isn’t allowed,’ and that way they would have known if their first flyer would have been inappropriate, but I didn’t even consider that coming up."

Lowe and the BSSSA say they just want to make sure this type of "censorship and discrimination" doesn’t happen again.

"We’d like to make sure that people are made aware that it’s not appropriate, and that it really damages the communities," Lowe said.

Lowe was asked by Stevens to write a letter of appeal to Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Laliberte. Look for updates on this story to find out the results of that appeal.

Email Correspondence

Hello Student Organization members!

I’m writing to tell you about a great opportunity to promote your group and get involved with a tradition on campus. New Student and Family Programs organizes Parent and Family Weekend each fall and this year they have scheduled a Bronco Tailgate Celebration with fun events on Friday, October 17 from 3 – 6pm on the Intramural Field. ASBSU has partnered with New Student and Family Programs on this event and is looking for student organizations that are interested in having a booth set up at the tailgate. At your booth you are encouraged to have an activity and pass out information to families and students regarding your group.

If this sounds like something you are interested in doing, please email ASBSU member Ashlee Mendive at ashleemendive@boisestate.edu to let her know. Ashlee can then give you more details about the event. Please contact her by this Friday, Oct. 10 to let her know about your interest!

I hope to see you at the Bronco Tailgate Celebration!

- Charlie

Charlie Varland
Assistant Director, Student Activities
Boise State University
Mail Stop – 1335
Phone – 208-426-2224
Fax – 426-1391
Email – charlievarland@boisestate.edu

—————————————————-

Hi Ashlee,

The secular student alliance would love to have a booth at the Tailgate Celebration for Parent and Family Weekend. How can we get a spot and what do we need to know?

Thanks,
Lloyd Lowe
President, BSSSA

————————————————————————
Lloyd,

Thanks so much for showing interest in our event. I have recognized your? request and will make sure that we have a booth for you. All that you need to know is that the event is on October 17th from 3-6?pm on the intramural field. If you need a vehicle to set-up anything, we advise that you do so before 1 p.m. Otherwise, everyone is able to set up their booth anytime after 12pm noon. We ask that there be no fundraisers involved with your booth. I have a few questions for you. 1) Do you need electricity? 2) How many tables do you need? 3) Do you need a stage for anything?

Thanks again!
Ashlee

Ashlee Mendive
Project Manager ASBSU Executive Staff
1910 University Drive
Boise, ID 83725-1335
Phone: (208) 426-1440
——————————————————————————————–

Hi Ashlee,

We only need one table and no we won’t need a stage or electricity.

Thanks!
Lloyd

———————————————

My name is James Rodriguez. I am currently acting as the secondary adviser for the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) at Boise State.

I am writing you in regards to an incident that happened on campus during the tailgate party involving a banner advertising the existence of the SSA that read, in part, "Outgrown your imaginary friend?" and an order from your office.

I talked to Lloyd Lowe, who is the elected president of the organization, and he informed me that you were responding to parent complaint. As a former officer of BGLAD, and a current community member of BGLAD I remember a time when parents complained about the fact that BGLAD was allowed to participate in the Homecoming Parade. In fact parents complained about the very existence of a Gay Straight Alliance on this campus. I know that the condom controversy that gripped this campus was started by the complaints of five parents. Now I hear that a few parents complained about the SSA’s banner and so your office took action. I worry that if a few parent complaints is all it takes, what’s to stop your office from censoring other student organizations?

I have a few questions for you in regards to this issue and I hope you’ll indulge me. Can you explain to me what part of the student code of conduct the banner broke to warrant such an action? Can you tell me if you’d have any objection to their use of the banner in the future? What can they do to avoid any future issues with your office?

I hope we can resolve this issue quickly and civilly without involving outside organizations.

I look forward to hearing from you and I welcome a response at your earliest convenience.

James R. Rodriguez

———————————————

Hello James,

Thank you for your email; I appreciate your effort to understand the incident. The request was not a response to parent complaints. It was a response to a request from the office sponsoring the event at which the Secular Student Alliance was present.

The Office of New Student and Family Programs is the sponsor and planning entity responsible for Parent & Family Weekend (held October 17-18). Parent and Family Weekend is a closed Boise State University event wherein participants are invited and pay a fee to attend. As a part of the program, the staff in New Student and Family Programs hosted a Bronco Tailgate Celebration at 3:00 p.m. on the patio and lawn of the Student Union Building. As a part of the event, the staff invited student organizations to attend in order to present a family friendly activity at a table. It was not intended as a recruitment or advocacy activity for the student organizations.

On the day of the event, I was approached by Brian MacDonald (the Associate Director for New Student and Family Programs) with a concern about the banner displayed by the Secular Student Alliance; they did not wish to have it displayed as it was not congruent with the expectations of organizations at this event. Whereas all of the other organizations displayed a banner indicating their name, SSA displayed the banner reading "Have you outgrown your imaginary friend?" As this banner was not in alignment with the expectations for which the group was invited to participate at the Family & Parent Weekend, I shared with Lloyd that the host office would like the banner removed. We did allow him to replace it with another banner.

It should be noted that this is not an issue of a violation of the student conduct code. It is a question of congruence with the expectations of the student organizations’ role at an event in which they were invited to fulfill a specific role. As you will note, we did not ask them to remove the banner during either the Student Organization Extravaganza or the Student Organization Fair. Both of these events were open events wherein the purpose was for the student organizations to promote their organization and recruit members. The purpose is different. I think it would be important, in the future, for the Secular Student Alliance members to clarify their role and the expectations at events which are not open to the entire campus and are hosted by other departments or offices who are inviting the organization to participate.

I hope this helps clarify the situation. It was not a question of parent complaints. Please let me know if you have other questions or concerns.

Kelly Stevens
Director, Student Activities

———————————————

Letter of Appeal Regarding Censorship of the Secular Student Alliance of Boise State

On Friday, Oct 17th, Boise State University held a tailgate party for parent and family weekend, which the Secular Student Alliance was excited to be a part of. This event was advertised as a way for us to promote our group to families and students and we were encouraged to pass out information about ourselves.

I had a class just before the event so I went early to set up some of our supplies beforehand. Among the the signs I put up were quotes by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and a banner bearing the question: "Outgrown your imaginary friend?"

This banner has been used twice before on campus. Once during the Student Organization Extravaganza held the Saturday before classes started this fall and once at Booth #4 in the Student Union Building during the first week of school, both times without incident. In fact the banner acted as a catalyst for friendly conversation with groups of differing viewpoints which led to opportunities for combined activities that we look forward to following up on later in the year. ??However on this occasion upon returning from my class I found that someone had untaped our banner and turned it upside down so no one could read it. I was approached by event coordinators Kara Fink and Brian MacDonald once I started to display it again and told that I would have to speak to Kelly Stevens, the new director of student activities.

During the time I spoke with Mrs. Stevens I pointed out that removal of the banner constituted censorship and that I felt as if our group was being discriminated against based on our lack of belief. She was not moved by any of my pleadings and flatly declared that she had received complaints about our banner and so either the banner must come down or we would be forced to leave.

Our banner, which appealed to reason, apparently offended the superstitious beliefs of some people on campus, just as their superstitious beliefs offend our sensibility and reason. When the non-religious complained about the blatant acts of proselytizing on campus during Christian week they were dismissed, but when we attempt to promote critical thinking our views are suppressed. There is something wrong with this.

It is my hope that BSU does not make a habit of stifling minority viewpoints and that this was a singular unfortunate event which will not be repeated in the future. I hope that those responsible for this inappropriate censorship will be made aware of their errors and that steps are taken to ensure they are not repeated.

Sincerely,

Lloyd E. Lowe II, President, BSSSA
October 24, 2008

JACQUELINE WAYMENT
Online Editor

Filed under: NEWS — Archive @ 12:00 am November 6th, 2008

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