Linnea Patterson - Week 7 A02

Linnea Patterson
14 May 2017
ASA 2 A02

Week 7 - Academic Freedom and Its Threats

Robby Cohen's piece on the 1964 Free Speech protests at UC Berkeley stood out to me this week. I grew up in the Bay Area, about 15 minutes outside of Berkeley, and we all see the UC as a mecca for protesting hippies. It was interesting to learn about how this image was created so long ago.

Although we in 2017 would like to think the world has changed a lot in 53 years in terms of human rights and free speech, this article proves that this is sadly not the case. The use of police violence on the free speech Berkeley protesters was appalling, as it "shocked and angered much of the campus community" (Cohen 2). This trend of unnecessary police force has continued into today, with the infamous pepper spray incident at Davis that created so much controversy. It's unfortunately ironic that students so often feel compelled to protest at an establishment such as a University, that should be opening up more doors to them and offering more opportunities, not silencing them or inhibiting their freedoms. This article proves that student anger is nothing new, and institutionalized violence against it is long-standing. When will students be able to protest without the fear of their safety being compromised? Sadly, I don't think this day is near. As long as our academic freedoms are threatened, students will object them.

Included is video coverage on the Berkeley protests against rightest Milo Yiannopolous (which also happened at a lesser degree in Davis) that happened in February, illustrating the continuation of Berkeley's reputation as a vocal school, unafraid to let their University misrepresent them.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-uc-trump-speech-20170202-story.html

Works Cited

Cohen, R. (1985). Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving the way for campus activism. OAH Magazine of History, 1(1), 16-18. doi:10.1093/maghis/1.1.16

Watanabe, T. (n.d.). UC Berkeley - home of the free speech movement - finds itself under fire from left, right and Trump. Retrieved May 14, 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-uc-trump-speech-20170202-story.html