Free Speech Commentary Rough Draft

As one walks across the campus, they become bombarded with several offers. Whether it be from a billboard, a post box, or even from students on the sidewalk they are inescapable. "Bright Futures Students Save 285 dollars". "Universal's Halloween Horror Nights Exclusive UCF Student Ticket". "Legalize Medical Marijuana". All of these offers, although rather blunt at times, are an extension of the first amendment. The first Amendment states that Congress will not create a law "Abridging the freedom of speech" at anytime of the use of the Constitution. The University of Central Florida has become a firm believer in unhindered freedom of speech. This belief has allowed the campus to produce a breeding ground for new and old ideas that could eventually revolutionize the world.
Before one continues it is important to realize that freedom of speech is not the same across the country. Since the United States first emerged from the ashes of the colonies, its people have been given certain unalienable rights. These rights, summed up in the Constitution, have been the foundation of the country to date. However, rather than allowing for clear cut rules within the document, the founding fathers allowed the document to be "interpreted". This gave the document the ability to change with the times as well as allow for different views to be expressed by the people. The first amendment within the Bill of Rights is no exception. Due to the ability of lawmakers and enforcers to interpret the rights given to the people through time, a grey area has formed across the U.S. in which certain locations, such as the University of Central Florida campus are able to use freedom of speech more freely than other more conservative areas.
One important change from an off campus to an on campus setting is the protection given to the professors and teachers that work here. According to the Webster Dictionary, Tenure is a status granted to teachers after a trial period that gives protection from summary dismissal. This allows a teacher to explore avenues that would be otherwise taboo in the pursuit of new or relevant knowledge. Should the teacher or professor walk the thin line of offensive, tenure provides protection from dismissal of their position. However, according to Professor Moody at the University of Central Florida, teachers must go through a rather long trial period before achieving the goal of tenure. This can be seen as a check against an individual taking advantage of tenure when they have not proven themselves to be stable or sane.
The University of Central Florida is also adorned with a special Free Speech Lawn in which everyone is free to share beliefs and ideas however they want. Many people, such as the Christians of "Can We Pray For You?", use the lawn to express religious beliefs to the students of UCF. The group uses prayer to help students who may be going through a hard time and try to provide guidance to those who may need it. However, according to a student at UCF named Drew Stultz, the free speech lawn is not always used for positive messages. According to Drew's account, there are certain days where a man will ascend a box and begin sermons to where he preaches the destiny of every student to go to hell. Thus, Drew has shown an interest in avoiding this man whenever he can. Although this one man may be causing a damper in the positive role of the free speech lawn, it is minimal compared to what the lawn has given back to the community and individual students who walk through it every day.
Clubs and Organizations on campus also benefit from the loose rules of Freedom of Speech. Instead of having to go through miles of red tape to achieve minimal attention in the community, These groups on campus are able to voice their goals and beliefs as long as they abide by the rules established by the University in their "Golden Rules". This allows students wishing to get involved in their community to find organizations that they agree with and make membership possible. Thus, initiatives can progress further and allows for the school to take on a stronger student body as a whole. The role of clubs is one that is seen as necessary by many students such as Henry Cabrera, a Sophomore at UCF, who believes that the clubs "make UCF what it is today". Without free Speech, it would be impossible for UCF to grow at the speed it has.
The University of Central Florida, although more open to expression than other areas such as a High School setting, is not a complete open canvas for anyone to begin speaking anything they think. As Dylan Crimmins, a Sophomore at UCF, stated "Free Speech on campus should be completely free as long as it does not hurt or injure others on campus". The University of Central Florida could not agree more. According to the UCF free expression brochure, expression is permitted as long as it does not interfere with the normal procedures of the University. This includes "classroom activities, preplanned campus events, blocking vehicular or pedestrian traffic, or creating an unsafe environment for the students, staff or faculty. The university also takes on the task of controlling the location and sound should either become too out of hand. Also, in order to register for any booth or information centers on campus, the individuals involved must follow a procedure outlined by the University of Florida Free Expression Brochure. Thus, The campus faculty can keep freedom of speech under control while allowing the students to safely voice their views and beliefs.
Freedom of Speech has become the pivotal foundation of UCF campus life. All incoming freshman, including myself, are opened to a completely new playground to figure out what they believe and who they really are as individuals. This new landscape would not be possible if it weren't for the expression of all forms of speech on campus. Without freedom of speech, The University of Central Florida would not of become the outstanding campus it is known as today.







Works Cited
Stultz, Drew. "Personal Interview on 10/12/2009."
Cabrera, Henry. "Personal Interview on 10/16/2009."
Crimmings, Dylan. "Personal Interview on 10/16/2009."
Moody, Jane. "Personal Interview on 10/15/2009."
http://osi.sdes.ucf.edu/useyourvoice/FreeExpressionBrochure.pdf (10/12/2009)
http://www.goldenrule.sdes.ucf.edu/docs/Student%20Union.pdf (10/12/2009)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html(10/17/2009)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenure (10/17/2009)
http://collegeclicktv.com/videos?fr_story=06ede14bb48f7b27f976cc35b57d64b2785cdf84&fr_chl=dd90f2b5a4651987559ce046deee4e8037f1341d&search= (10/19/2009)

Rough Thesis

The ability to speak openly has always been a factor and a basis of American society. However, this seemingly harmless and usually positive ideal of the United States has led to fluctuating enforcement of unlawful activities across the country. In many places, such as conservative Southern areas, the idea of free speech is restricted. On the other hand, on a campus like UCF, policies and restrictions towards free speech appear relaxed and less enforced. This can be attributed to an overall more liberal attitude toward the subject of speech. Due to the ability of lawmakers and enforcers to interpret the rights given to the people through time, a grey area has formed across the U.S. in which certain locations, such as the University of Central Florida campus, have gained the ability to present ideals pertaining to activities deemed unlawful or taboo by a majority of society.

Rough Outline

I-The Pro-Marijuana Campus Life
A- Introduction
1- Show example of "Tent City"
a- Personal encounter and quotes
b- Move story towards campus
B- Thesis Paragraph and College Setup
1- Marijuana life on campus has become a driving force in the community and influences a large portion of students
a- Provide opinion of speech involved with Marijuana on campus
C- Sanctions and laws nationaly and state wide
1- State the laws
a- Follow up with penalties
2- Move into "grey" area of amendment one involved with speech
a- Express a stretching of amendment on here on campus
D- NORML at UCF
1- Club involved in Marijuana legalization activities
a- will provide facts of groups activities and sponsored events
b- Look into opposition the club faces
c- ask those involved of hardships from campus
E- Tent City Event Contd
1- Explain the location and size of the event
a- Explain the duration
b- Explain the people involved
D- UCF on the issue
1- Ask UCF senators how they feel about the issue
a- Ask what prompted it qulaification
2- Look into the people involved in the clubs and campuses
a- Ask about Majors as well as other questions
E- Brief Personal Involvement
1- My exposure
2- Corruption of a friend
F- Conclusion

Letter to a friend

Dear Jessica,

I was wondering how things have been going back in Melbourne. Things here have been going great. It's a completely different experience here than High School was. UCF has completely different social norms than we did back home. You wouldn't believe the view on Marijuana here. There is so much support for its use on campus. Did you know that they have a club here that actually supports its use. I was unaware that they could have clubs that support illegal drugs. The club is very open about its views on restrictions they view as wrong. I have seen several demonstrations outside of the student union in support of the drug. This includes a band as well as a public speaker talking about the positives associated with it. They also have other events on campus such as this thing called tent city. A bunch of students who support Marijuana on campus meet in this place called Memory Mall. It's a large open grass lawn. The students brought tents and then camped out for several days. I am not sure but I believe they even spent the night. I got a chance to ask one of them why they were camping out and they told me it was "just for fun". I later found out while listening to one of the bands they had playing there that they were there to support Marijuana use. I heard the lead singer say "this is just like Woodstock, except we have more weeeeeeeed". It is so different here than Melbourne. Can you think of anytime where Marijuana was so openly expressed to the public? I remember several times where are friends were arrested back home. Here it's almost as if each user has a huge sign over there head saying "I smoke". I've never seen so much backing for something like this back home. The only clubs we had in High school were sports clubs and maybe a few religiously backed clubs. I can't imagine what would happen if a student were to introduce such a club. Have you ever heard of anything like that before? I've even been approached a couple times with people looking for connections to get weed. Back home they usually just stuck to their core groups of smoker and hookups. Here it seems like they're always people looking around to score some Marijuana. I wonder if the police here are working to do anything about this or if it is protected by free speech. I wonder if maybe the kids could be tested for use even though they are only expressing free speech. After seeing what happened to our friend back home I wish they would crack down a little harder on the use of the drug. He ended up losing out on his chance to go to College. He didn't even go to a community college. He started doing pills and other drugs. I just wish he would get back on the right track but with Marijuana in his life I don't think he will ever be able to get on the right track.

Commentary Questions and Survey

Five Questions for Commentary: Marijuana Related Events and Groups and their effects on campus life

-What do you think about Pro-Marijuana groups on Campus?
-Are you aware of Marijuana Related events such as Tent City?
-Have these things changed your view of Marijuana use since you’ve been on Campus?
-Have you experienced Marijuana use on campus or been asked to use?
-How does the use of Marijuana on campus vary from what you experienced before you came to UCF?

Other Questions to Ask
a. How do you know what you know? (evidence)
b. Who are you to the subject? (perspective)
c. How is this event connected to other events? (patterns or opposing forces)
d. What if things were different? (suppositions/predictions)
e. Why is this important? (significance)

Peer Survey Answers:

1)I think they are stupid because the chance of it getting legalized is low because it is hard to regulate who grows what.
2)Yes
3)No, because I believe I have seen people do it more before I came to UCF but I do live off campus so that could effect it.
4)Not on campus but yes
5)Yes I believe it is more prevalent at home
a.I’ve been around users and my ex boyfriend used Marijuana
b.I have had several friends use it and be involved
c.It’s connected to memory loss and stupidity
d.If marijuana use was looked at different I still would not do it. I don’t enjoy what people do when they smoke
e.I don’t think these groups on campus are important

Marijuana On Campus

Marijuana has been one of the most controversial issues in the United States when it comes to its legality. It serves as a symbol of crime, stupidity, and abuse. However, it also is viewed as a medical asset as well as large opportunity to create revenue for the Government should it become legal. As it stands today the illegal use of Marijuana has become relatively common throughout the nation today. The use of this drug on campus is no exception.
Walking around campus I've seen several instances of an almost acceptance of Marijuana from the general population. One such occasion was several days where users camped out in tents in the middle of the campus to relax and support legalization. It is almost impossible to go into college and not find Marijuana usage. However, a lot of the time Marijuana usage begins not in college but in High School.
I once tried Marijuana my Senior of High School. The effects are almost a numbing of the senses. You feel light headed and on top of the world. This is also known as the "high" feeling. The drug is characterized by a smell sort of like burnt grass. There are several ways I have seen people use the drug. Whether it be through a bong or hookah, the goal is almost always the same. The user comes down slowly from being high and does not crash. However, there has been evidence to support that brain cells are lost in the process of smoking weed. A fact that has not stopped a large portion of today's youth from indulging in it.