Wednesday was a busy day on campus. The "Free Speech Zone", which usually hosts only the Bible ladies and an occasional salesman or two, was the venue for a political-religious group with huge, provocative posters, handing out flyers to passersby. According to reports in the school paper, some past demonstrations have led to shouting matches, but as far as I could tell, nobody got loud on this day. The campus police were posted a few yards from the edge of the zone, just in case.

Free Hugs

On Wednesday a group of students positioned themselves on the main walkway, offering hugs to all passersby. I believe this was part of a promotion for one of the campus clubs. During the ten minutes or so that I watched them, only a few people accepted the offer.

I Can't Hear Your

Between classes I was sitting on a bench, about five or six feet away from this girl. She was doing homework and texting while listening to her music player. Eventually she stopped to watch the birds, but I don’t think she could hear them. Even though she had her earbuds on, I could hear the music. Fortunately, this school has a good American Sign Language program. I expect that many of today’s students will end up needing it.

Seen on Campus

I can’t remember which political conference it was that introduced the concept of the "Free Speech Zone". That is, a zone designed to prevent free speech from being heard. It caught on rapidly and now it is my understanding that all major political events in the U.S. use this device. Still, I was a bit surprised to encounter this on the campus of Pierce College, whose newspaper proudly (if somewhat enigmatically) proclaims itself to be "a first amendment publication".

There are a couple of "older" ladies who usually spend most of the day on campus sitting at a folding table where they dispense free Bible-related literature. They are always within the boundary of the "free speech zone" (usually tightly wedged into the only shady spot). When I asked, they confirmed that this is the only area the college allows them to use.

I don't think it's a bad idea to restrict people from off campus to limited areas. Otherwise we would quickly be overrun by politicians, advertisers, hucksters, and all the other annoying characters who'd like to bombard us with messages about whatever it is they're selling. But I don't care much for the way this area is labeled. And I like even less the way this kind of area is being used by government agencies and political parties. I am old enough to remember when the entire United States was considered a free speech zone.