Policy update restricts demonstrations

As citizens of the United States, it can be easy to take freedom of speech for granted. At Loyola University Chicago, the concept of complete student freedom within Loyola walls is diminished through school policies, as well as the administrations reactions (or lack thereof) to any speech that students attempt to voice. Under the university roof, speech does not seem free it seems regulated, silenced and disregarded.

Loyolas Community Standards were updated as of Jan. 26 specifically, Section 506 (titled Free Expression and Demonstration Policy and Approval Process), which holds guidelines for on-campus demonstrations and outlines the requirements for protests.

Loyola justified these updates as clarification of terms and greater ease of registration process for demonstrations.

While the university appears and claims to be making it easier to protest on campus, the new policy is actually doing the exact opposite.

One obvious change to the community standards was the actual definition of what is considered a demonstration. The new version expands the term to a gathering of two or more people who publicly express a position or feeling toward a person or cause. Previously, a demonstration was defined as any organized or impromptu gathering of two or more people that could be perceived as displaying feelings toward a person or a cause.

Other changes dealt with the process for Loyola students planning a protest or demonstration. Students who want to hold a demonstration must now submit a form to the university at least three days in advance. Previously, the form needed to be submitted 10 days in advance.

Amongst other smaller updates, it was also specified that demonstrations must take place within the Damen Student Center or the Terry Student Center, not in any other building on campus.

Changes are being made on paper, and The Phoenix Editorial Board appreciates the universitys efforts to promote and enable students to speak their minds more easily on campus. But there are two key issues here: One, why is it that students can only protest indoors at two university buildings? And two, even if students did protest, would their words really have any effect on the future?

We welcome the reduction of notification time, but the updates to the speech policy are still problematic and dont promise real change.

First, by carefully defining what constitutes a demonstration, Loyola is saying that every time a group of people even just two people are vocal about an issue, that group of people would have to notify the university three days in advance in order to express their opinions. This means that meetings of people, perhaps a meeting as simple as handing out flyers on campus in a group of two or more people, would have to go through a process to demonstrate on campus.

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Policy update restricts demonstrations