Students raise their voices for free speech

Art can be free speech, according to Roger Fonseca from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Free speech is anything that tries to get a message across, Fonseca said. Yes theres free speech, but you can limit it reasonably.

On Tuesday morning, about 80 people gathered in front of HauMNAs mural by the Art Building to protest for their right for free speech and against the development of telescopes on Mauna Kea. Words that were painted on the mural were covered because they did not match the design that was approved to be painted.

Were on a university, Hawaiian cultural practitioner Andre Perez said. Were talking about free speech to express our politics and our cultural values. And that includes protecting our sacred mountain.

HauMNA is a student movement for aloha no ka ina, or love for the land.

FREE SPEECH

The First Amendment protects speech that is controversial, speech that is unpopular, speech that is provocative, speech that is critical, said political science professor Katharina Heyer.

According to Heyer, students at the university have fairly broad freedom of expression rights.

On the other hand, the university also has the right to maintain the proper functioning and order of the university, Heyer said. So they have the right to place limitations on the freedom of expression.

Heyer said the limitations the university places on free speech have to be reasonable and content-neutral. Reasonable includes making sure the acts of free speech are not disrupting the functions of the university. Content-neutral means the university should not be interested in the content of the speaker or the speakers message.

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Students raise their voices for free speech