Category Archives: First Amendment

A recent email about the code of conduct was left untouched in most students inboxes, yet the new changes to Loyolas Student Code of Conduct are some of the largest inroads for students to voice their opinions on campus.

Our First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom to assemble are largely up to Loyola to interpret. Because Loyola is a private university, it can set its own standards to restrict students First Amendment rights. Although some changes seem inconsequential, others seem to attempt to stifle students voices.

The university altered the definition of assembly in its Student Code of Conduct. The guidelines explain that the act of two or more people protesting is considered a public expression.

This terminology seems to add some ambiguity to these guidelines. Would controversial T-shirts count as a public statement? Furthermore, two students who want to hand out flyers encouraging voter registration, or flyers condemning a university practice, would be severely restricted by this change in language. This new terminology is confusing and was created to give Loyola the power to determine what behaviors are too controversial.

There are also new stipulations on where Loyola students can assemble. The new guidelines state that demonstrations will be considered disruptive if they occur inside university buildings other than the Damen Student Center and Terry Student Center. This seriously limits the number of people that can protest at one time.

It is not a new practice for universities to designate areas for protesters, which are most commonly called designated public forums. However, the problem with the locations Loyola has designated is the serious space and location restrictions. Living southwest of campus, I rarely make it to the Damen Student Center, and a good deal of upperclassmen and commuter students most likely dont either.

The only open area in the Terry Student Center would be the entrance lounge area, which would severely block traffic since it is a stairwell, the entrance to Ninas Cafe and the entrance to Baumhart Hall. A protest focused in large open areas such as the quad would garner much more attention, support and notoriety. Loyola would rather have students protest off to the corners of the student center, which is not a centrally located campus gathering place.

Many social movements of the 1960s and 70s started on college campuses, attracting thousands of people. What if Loyola students wanted to start a large-scale demonstration, one that connected a community of people with similar values?

The Damen Student Center and Terry Student Center simply do not have the capacity to hold a large group of supporters, which is key to a successful movement. With these new guidelines, the university has the power to simply remove protestors outside of these designated zones. If the Loyola and Rogers Park community felt strongly enough about a certain issue, I would want us to stand up for what we believed in not be cordoned off to a designated zone.

These changes are serious attacks on students ability to express themselves. Yet some of the most disturbing restrictions were previously present in the student conduct handbook.

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University shortchanges students on speech policy

First Amendment Opinions
This video is about BDMV.

By: KeeganTurnbough

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First Amendment Opinions - Video

I've learned to dream big here and to believe in the possibility. My first post on this blog was on April 29th, but it was about my birthday being September 11th. I really didn't know what to expect back then, but it has been quite a journey.

We've come full circle here. Today is September 11th and this birthday is a big one. A new decade. As I leave one decade and move to another, I'm also leaving this blog home and moving to a new blog home.

This is the last post on this blog. I had always wondered how it would end. Now this is it.

I had been thinking about having my own domain for years and wanted to have a blog professionally designed. Over the summer, it started feeling more like this was time. I've had more freelance writing work and wanted to combine my old writing website with my blog. Now it's done!

I will keep the blog post archives on this blog alive for as long as Blogger is free. Most likely the Recipe Index and Life List will remain as well. Other parts of the blog will be getting pared down over time.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this blog over the eight years! Hopefully you'll join me as I take the next step over to Anali's Next Amendment.

The url is analisamendmentblog.com. See you at my new blog home!

Anali's First Amendment 2006-2014. All rights reserved. This Posts Link Follow me on Twitter and Instagram Join me on Facebook. Shopping on Amazon today? If so, please consider starting here and help support this blog.

The Next Amendment

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Anali's First Amendment

BCOM 405 Week 2 Assignment First Amendment and Journalism Paper
http://www.fres-courses.com/product/bcom-405-week-2-assignment-first-amendment-and-journalism-paper BCOM 405 Week 2 Assignment First Amendment and Journalism...

By: online business

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BCOM 405 Week 2 Assignment First Amendment and Journalism Paper - Video

Edward Schumacher Matos last day as the listeners representative at NPR gave him one last opportunity to poke his bosses in the eyes, and he did so taking on a couple of sacred cows: the assertion of bias and the reach of the First Amendment.

In his final post last week before vacating the job, Schumacher-Matos warned of fundamentalism, but not the kind involving religion the kind involving journalists and ethics.

And he acknowledged that NPR has a bias. But not the one you might think.

As a public media that receives some 11 percent of its funding indirectly from the government, it cannot be partisan or have a declared bias. With multiple streams of other incomefoundations, corporations and individualsit also is not under the same pressure as the commercial news media to do so.

But lets be honest: NPR has a bias of sorts. It is the bias of its college-educated audienceyou and meto pick and frame stories in ways that represent our interests. This is not a liberal basis, as the far right likes to claim. It is a center-right to center-left bias interested in fact-based analysis and policy on matters such as the environment, health care, gay rights and fiscal issues, as opposed to ideology or belief.

Over my four years I received more complaints from the left than the right, and not because Republicans arent listening. Audience polls show a pretty even Republican-Democrat breakdown, with even more listeners self-identifying as independent. It is that the political debate today and coverage is between the centrists and the far right; the far left feels ignored.

You will decide for yourself whether this is a good bias for NPR to have. I like it. As the news media fractures along narrow, advocacy lines, I think the NPR breadth and framing is valuable for the nation. With its strong storytelling voice, moreover, NPR is a peculiar institution in a way that perhaps only radio and podcasts can be. It is intimate with us, and has become part of our lives.

Schumacher-Matos also criticized fundamentalism among journalists who insist on broad First Amendment protections.

The French news media may have their ethical standards, but they are not American or sacred universal ones, and they shouldnt be French ones either. The United States has never had absolute freedom of the press. And the framers of the Constitution I once held the James Madison Visiting Professor Chair on First Amendment Issues at Columbia University never intended it to. You wouldnt know this, however, from listening to the First Amendment fundamentalists piping up from Washington to Silicon Valley.

Its an odd thing for a journalist to write, attorney Eugene Volokh writes today on his Washington Post blog

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NPR ombudsman: Beware First Amendment fundamentalists

UPDATE 2/11/15 @ 11:25 p.m. RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A school in Jackson County, West Virginia, is facing religious scrutiny over a memorial honoring a teacher who passed away.

Ravenswood Middle School received a letter from the Freedom of Religion Foundation, saying it violates the First Amendment.

One by one on Wednesday, cars drove by Ravenswood Middle School, catching a glimpse of what may be the most controversial thing in town.

"I think that everybody is very outspoken," said Tracie Sadecky.

Unfortunately, Sadecky remembers why the memorial was put up in the first place.

Back in 2004, Joann Christy, a teacher who taught at the school for more than a quarter of a century, was killed in an accident.

"There's so many kids that came through this school that were affected by her death, that were affected by her teachings, and now we're just trying to keep her memory alive here," Sadecky said.

Sadecky, along with some others, feel that memory may soon slip away.

The Freedom of Religion Foundation recently notified the school, saying the crosses and angels on the memorial are a violation of the separation of church and state.

"The First Amendment mandates that schools cannot advance or promote religion, so that's what this display is doing," said Patrick Elliott, a staff attorney with FORF.

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UPDATE: Group Says Teacher Memorial at School Violates First Amendment

The Disarming of Americans #39; Amendments
The Disarming of America Amendments may be coming ,and In The Founding Church of Scientology with Government Funds, American Tax Dollars,The First Amendment guarantees freedoms ...

By: Henry Massingale

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The Disarming of Americans' Amendments - Video

What would James Madison say to today #39;s Supreme Court? Burt Neuborne weighs in
In "Madison #39;s Music," author Burt Neuborne argues that judges must consider the full text and structure of the First Amendment in order to issue rulings in accordance with James Madison #39;s...

By: NYU School of Law

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What would James Madison say to today's Supreme Court? Burt Neuborne weighs in - Video

Introduction of 1st Amendment
This video provides a brief introduction to the first amendment. Visit http://www.TheBusinessProfessor.com for tons of free business and legal resources.

By: Jason Mance Gordon

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Introduction of 1st Amendment - Video

Jehovah #39;s Witnesses and the First Amendment
EIU 4158-600.

By: Shannon Ruholl

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Jehovah's Witnesses and the First Amendment - Video