Creating Spaces and Challenging Assumptions

Dr. Susan Rosa, of the History Department, and Professor Deberah Bernstein and Chair Cris Toffolo, of the Justice Studies Department, spoke about creating safe spaces for free speech on campus, student's rights and its effects on the student body on Mar. 4 as part of the Free Speech Symposium. 

"Debate and dissent are important for our society," Rosa said. She talked about how lowering standards are more harmful to students in the long run and specifically talked about why getting rid of the constitution requirement is a bad idea. The constitution test is one of the last things students need as part of the graduation requirement.

She said that she heard one of the reasons to get rid of this requirement was because other universities had done it as well.

"There is no place for 'monkey see, monkey do' at a place of higher learning," Rosa said.

She also said that the students need to have the tools to challenge the process. "The knowledge of rights is the first and best defense to protect those rights because otherwise we won't know the constitutionality of those rights," Rosa said. 

Afterwards, Bernstein talked about how there can't be free speech without a space to do so and college campuses and free speech used to be so interrelated. However, she also explained that after the civil rights movements of the 1960's and 70's colleges and universities decided to reduce the vocalization opportunities of students.  "Colleges tried to make quads smaller so to limit student free speech," Bernstein said.  She also talked about the ROTC classes that go against NEIU's curriculum standards and Inclusion Act.

"Even if we had been forced to court we would have used our resources but opened up discussion," Bernstein said.

Toffolo continued the ROTC discussion by talking about the Solomon Amendment, which is a federal law that allows the United States Secretary of Defense to deny federal grants to institutions of higher education, if they attempt to prevent or forbid the ROTC or military recruitment on campus.

She said that knowing the constitution, like what strict scrutiny is and the freedom of speech allowed to U.S. citizens, helps students defend themselves against abuses of their rights.

"If the university is not the place for freedom of speech and dissent then I don't know what the university is for," said Toffolo.