The Huffington Post recently named DePaul as the fifth worst university for free-speech in the U.S. The Post article referenced an event that occurred on campus last year when a conservative student group had their display vandalized by a liberal group.
Naturally, this lead to quite the controversy among DePaul students and administrators. After reading a student blog and a Fox News report on the incident, it became clear that this issue is still alive and that it’s not just a difference of Opinions fueling the fire.
The conservative group, Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), was given approval by the school administration to put up flags around the quad as an anti-abortion demonstration on the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision. The liberal student group members were not given permission to have their own demonstration, but rather saw an opportunity to “start a dialogue” with the YAF members by vandalizing the display of flags. The liberal students were reprimanded for their crime against the YAF demonstration, sparking arguments across campus between the two sides. But there is an issue here that goes beyond a single demonstration. While Fox News only reported on the one incident, a very liberal-minded student blog post took it a step further and opened up a discussion regarding DePaul’s sexual health programming, their acceptance of LGBTQ organizations and the discrimination of women on campus as well.
When I attended freshman orientation, I balked at the weak sex-ed speech given to our group of 18 year olds. I couldn’t believe the extent to which DePaul disregarded the issue of safe sex across campus. There was no mention of a clinic or office where students could get condoms or even just informational pamphlets about safe sex. The other students that I talked to just chalked it up to Catholic doctrine. But then we were told there’s a drag show held every spring in the Student Center. A drag show?! It truly felt like a double standard, hearing about the open and accepted LGBTQ organizations and the hushed, hidden mentions of teenagers having sex on campus.
So with an anti-abortion display on the campus quad, and drag shows happening in the Student Center, DePaul has really set themselves up for this type of student frustration. I think it’s great that both conservative and liberal student organizations are allowed to show their stripes on campus. But there hasn’t been sufficient support for dialogue between the sides. The fact that liberal students had to vandalize another group’s demonstration to get people talking about these issues is extreme. The fact that the school administration didn’t see it as an opportunity to facilitate a discussion is even sadder.
Yeah, it’s a Catholic school. But it’s still a school. College is advertised as this place of all-encompassing education, a place where you can learn as much as you want about anything you want, and you should be able to say what you want, even at a Catholic school. There are thousands of students who come here, not because of the religious affiliation, but because of the academic rigor that DePaul has earned itself. Although the Huffington Post critiqued us based on this one event of vandalism, I see the issue of free speech and information as prevalent in more aspects that lie beneath the surface. Shouldn’t our school talk to us about sex and politics? These are topics that students our age are more privy to than ever before. It is a vital component of any education that no school, especially not DePaul, can overlook.
