Free Speech... from 12pm to 1pm

Everyone has heard of the first amendment. Everyone has heard of situations in where this amendment has been violated. Never have I heard of an in between. At Yuba Community College District, a new policy has been approved that limits student free speech activities to two hours per week, and require students to obtain permission at least two weeks in advance.

In 2008, officials threatened a student with arrest and expulsion fir sharing a Christian

message at the college. In turn, this outraged many students. Free speech is a first amendment laid out in the Constitution, and no student should need a permit two weeks in advance to exercise this right. 

A college is the place where one's mind is the most free and open it will ever be. Suppressing freedom of speech to a mere two hours a week is an outright violation of rights. A student peacefully exercising his First Amendment right to speak on campus is not a crime- nor should he be punished for that. After all, this isn't North Korea; this is America.

By taking away these rights, colleges and authority are taking away the basic principles behind America and our founding.  This situation was so outrageous that Young America's Foundation ranked first on "Academia's Top 10 Abuses of 2008." The student, not violent or disruptive, was threatened to be expelled solely for his freedom of expression.

Carry That Weight

One in every six women have been raped or attempted rape at one point in her life. Unfortunately, Emma Sulkowicz was one of those. On her first day of sophomore year, the Columbia University student was raped by a classmate.

Instead of feeling embarrassed or shamed, she brought this terrible act to the University board in attempt to get her rapist expelled from the school. Despite other women claiming similar adults by the same student, the attacker was found not responsible by the University.

Sulkowicz vowed from then on to carry her mattress around with her at all times until her attacker was taken out of the school and she could feel safe again. After the case heating, she filed a federal complaint against Columbia for violating the gender equity law of Title IX and mishandling the sexual assault cases.

As a student and as a woman, Emma’s rights were taken away from her. Her “Carry That Weight” campaign has called attention from government officials and the

media. As long as the University allows her rapist to attend the same school, the will continue the project. She has the right to feel safe at college and protection.

While this one in six number will not change over night, this immense violation needs to be deterred, which starts from the acknowledgement, from Columbia University in this case, that this is unacceptable and a violation of the highest degree.

National Protections or National Violations?

        There is no denying that technology has boomed over the past few years. With this new advanced technology readily available, it also makes it available for misuse and abuse.

       For years now, the NSA has been tracking citizens, loved ones, or just cheating the system. The intelligence allows the government to spy on American telephone numbers, calling patterns, and IP addresses.

        However, this misuse of the technology is unconstitutional and denies Americans the rights for privacy. Not only is this currently happening, but the NSA and government has been lying to the American people about it.

       In recent years, NSA employees have spied on women, significant others, and numerous other instances without a warrant.

     In the years following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the government has upped security and surveillance in order to "protect" America. All of the snooping and spying done by the government has been under the guise of terrorist connections.   
 
            The misuse of surveillance powers is a huge problem because of its illegality. In order for citizens to trust the government again, changes must be done to the Agency’s intentions.

 "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

   All of these security scandals leads us to think, so where is the line? Where is the boundary between keeping Americans safe and protecting the rights of citizens that were granted in the Bill of Rights (Fourth Amendment)?

   The truth of it is that it is extremely difficult to determine that line, especially with constant terror threats against the United States. While keeping Americans safe needs to be a top priority of the government, the rights of citizens should always come first when making decisions.


In additions to the abuses of the NSA, the CIA has recently been under attack for unconstitutional torture of detainees, specifically Guantanamo Bay.  Like the NSA, the CIA tightened their powers after the 9/11 attacks and tried to conceal what the agencies had done.

The interrogation process of detainees is far from civil. Some atrocities include: 

• rectal rehydration
• rectal feeding

  

  Form of torture: water boarding

• water boarding 
• ice baths
• personal death threats, along with threats to families
• confinement 

It doesn't take a judge to determine the unconstitutional nature of these acts.These tactics go far beyond the terms laid out, unquestionably violating the rights of the detainees.


 These recent events have truly made me think about American society and power. In each

case presented in this blog, one group in power clearly destroys the rights of others, with no consequence. Instead of continued protests and violence, it is time that we, as a society, changed what we are doing for future generations.



For a timeline of NSA events, see NSA SPYING

Long Live Peaceful Protests

Man in Ferguson protects himself from Tear Gas

             In the weeks following the highly publicized Michael Brown case in Ferguson, riots and protests have spurred up all around the country. On November 24th, 2014, a grand jury decided not to indict a white male police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black male, Michael Brown.

           This case increased the gap between racial tensions of white vs. black and power struggles between authority vs. Citizens. This incident happened to involve both.


       The decision sparked unrest and controversy in Ferguson- from peaceful to violent to vandalism to looting. However, the Ferguson police has not been handling these protests conditionally, violating their rights.

Woman trying to recover form Tear Gas attack

           Some tactics used include using pepper spray, tear gas, and violence. This misuse of power needs to end in order for society to respect authority and value it. The events and protests has spurred a palpable tension, only emphasized by the police attacks on protesters.

               This law not only sided with the rights of citizens in a time where seemingly no other authority figure was, but also helps us move forward and hopefully remain as peaceful protests.

     In October, a federal judge ruled that a police tactic used to control protesters is unconstitutional, specifically police ordering people to walk instead of standing still. This ruling is a step in the right direction for society in order to maintain that balance of power.


For more information, refer back to #ICantBreathe post.

The difference between the Michael Brown case and Eric Garner case is that protests in Ferguson were much more violent and destructive. 

Eyes Everywhere On Teachers

        Where does the power lay in public schools? The teacher or the student? Teachers do have the power to punish for behavioral issues, but the students and families pay teachers.

        Based on the new trend of “cyberbaiting,” a phenomenon in where students irritate the teachers to the point of total frustration that they yell or breakdown, all while another
student films the incident. In this new thing, the power is all in the students.

         However, this is a violation of the teacher’s rights, not only for filming without permission, but also for taking a situation out of context. This could potentially lead to a firing of the teacher of suspension.

        When these types of videos go viral, the principal and administration have no choice but to fire the teacher. Unfortunately, this has happened to about one in five teachers.

          Many people attribute this trend to the increase of violence in teens due to the constant coddling of parents. No matter what the cause of this, it breaches the teacher rights. This is considered a new form of bullying and is extremely unjust of students to perform this.

       The attack of teachers has reached a new level in this. Especially by the time of upper class age of high school, students know how teachers work and what makes them tick. They then use this knowledge to potentially ruin their teacher’s life.

Strip Search Tests School Powers

A 13-year old girl still remembers the black stretch pants with butterfly patches and a pink T-shirt she was wearing when her middle school officials forced her to strip in a search.

The student was suspected of bringing prescription strength ibuprofen to school. Following this accusation, the middle school girl was forced to strip down to her bra and underpants, then to pull them away, exposing her pelvic area and breast. Guess what? No drugs were found.

Not only was this outright humiliating for the girl, but it was no doubt scarring and degrading.

This intrusive strip was an extreme violation of her rights, especially as her being a young girl. The problem with this search was that the accusation of having pills (with no more strength than two Advil) did not match the degree of the intrusion, especially considering there was no threat of the specific drug.

This case was reexamined and determined unconditional, referring to the degrading nature of the strip search.


While the zero-policy for drugs should be upheld in schools, the degree and level of enforcing this needs to be reevaluated in favor of a child’s rights. A nude search of a 13-year-old girl is not only an invasion of constitutional rights, but a violation of human dignities.

I can only imagine the embarrassment that the girl still faces today, six years go, and the images still instilled in her brain.

Unconstitutional Strip Searches

FBGM

             The Weston vs. Wayland Powderpuff game is a tradition; guys coach girls on flag football and it instills a little bit of rivalry between girls in a male-dominated sport. With this, it has also been a more social tradition to wear shirts that promote Weston pride.

This year, the shirts seemed to stir up drama with the administrators ending up in this:

         On the back of our shirts were the letters “FBGM,” which could potentially mean anything. Due to the ambiguity of these letters, we figured it was appropriate for school and wearing to the game. To administrators, this slogan stood for “FootBall GaMe.”

         However, for us senior girls, we thought of it as “Fuck Bitches Get Money.” Yes, when taken literally this could be seen as demeaning to some sensitive folk. Yet we turned this negative connotation into something positive for Weston. It was a prideful term of our generation that we used to come together to defeat our rivals.

         The administration did not find this term funny nor empowering. They forced us to cover it up or turn our shirts on inside out. I did not agree with this. I refused to cover up my shirt because it does not blatantly promote anything. If “Fuck Bitches Get Money” was actually printed on the shirts, then yes, that would clearly be inappropriate for school. Since this was masked by the abbreviation, it was not right for them to force us to cover it up.

            This was especially aggravating for us because the class of 2010 did the EXACT same

“FBGM” on the back with no backlash from the school administration. The principal
repeatedly mentioned that the shirt was “misogynistic” and “demeaning” to females, however the FBGM truly could have stood for anything.

        It was a term meant to be empowering for Weston seniors, however being forced to not show it was not okay for the school to do and made a lasting tradition a not enjoyable experience.