RCL #2

The first article discusses an incident where a student on Penn State campus was told they were not properly following Penn State’s free speech policies. The student felt otherwise. This article connects directly to my mini team and we analyze and evaluate policies regarding free speech on campus. We can use this article to pinpoint a specific incident where a free speech demonstration was somewhat controversial. We can also use this article to highlight the specific guidelines for free speech demonstrations on Penn State campus.

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6851

This article was just a statement made by Penn State President Eric Barron in regards to Richard Spencer’s request to speak on campus. This again can relate to Penn State’s policies on free speech on campus. We can use President Barron’s statement to address what rights the University has to pick and choose who speaks on campus.

http://news.psu.edu/story/478590/2017/08/22/administration/richard-spencer-not-welcome-speak-penn-state

RCL #1

Title: WE ARE free to speak… or are we?

Description of the deliberation: We’ll be analyzing the angles of the negatives and positives of free speech. We’ll look at how different people define free speech and what it should be. We will also analyze the policies of free speech on Penn State campus and their free speech zones and safe spaces.

My roles: To research and analyze the policies regarding free speech at Penn State.

What I’ve worked on: So far I’ve done research on the free speech zones on campus.

RCL #0

I believe that everything happens for a reason, good or bad. We don’t always know the reason but there’s always one there. There have been many instances in my life where I felt this belief has held true.
If I’m being honest, My first two years of high school were difficult ones. I struggled with, depression, anxiety and stress. I didn’t have many people that I considered close friends. Going into junior year I had hoped to get off to a better start. On the first stay of school I met with my good friend Rick before lunch so that we could sit together. We looked for a table that had some people who we both knew but unfortunately the only table with people we both knew had only one seat left. We decided to sit together with a few kids in our grade that we only sort of knew. We didn’t really talk to them that much because we didn’t know them too well. The next day Ricky decided to sit at the other table that had a lot of those kids that we knew because he knew them better than the kids we had been sitting with the day before. Because of our schedules, Ricky always arrived to lunch before I did and therefore was always able to sit with the other kids.
I was disappointed that I would have to spend lunch every day without one of my best friends and with a bunch of kids that I had hardly known. However this actually ended up working out for the better, much better As time went on I talked more and more to them and we joked around. By the end of the year several of them became some of my best friends and introduced me to other kids who are my closest friends today. Despite being at different schools, we all keep in touch daily. As someone who had felt very lonely growing up and especially in my first two years of high school it felt great to have a close circle of good friends. These were the friends that I had always looked for. The kinds of friends who are always there for you and who you can turn to. The kinds of friends that you can always joke around with and who will cheer you on in your endeavors. By what may seem like pure chance I ended my high school career with what had been the greatest one year of my life with a group of very good friends, many of which were from that table. It may just seem like pure luck to some, but I don’t think so. I believe I was meant to sit at that table. I was meant to meet these people and have them become the friends I had always looked for. I was meant to have these people be a huge part of the greatest year of my life so far. All of this was meant to happen and put my life in a better place. All of this happened for a reason, this I believe.