Section A03
Week 7
In the
process of reading this week’s article, “Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving
the Way for Campus Activism” by Robby Cohen”, I realized I would like to
express some of my opinions. In
early 1960s, students at Berkeley desired to get support from school for the
civil rights movement, which was to end up racial discrimination, but the
movement was objected by university’s president and deans. In addition,
students were prohibited to raise funds for civil rights organizations and the
police got involved. Then, it became more severe, and turned into the Free
Speech Movement eventually. Suddenly, the scene in the article that the
lieutenant and police arrested 800 students reminds me the video we watched in
the first lecture, about pepper spraying students in an Occupy Movement in UC
Davis. The movement was also about the rights to speak freely. I still don’t
understand why students have to be tortured painfully when they try to fight
for their own rights, and why they have to take responsibilities for mistakes caused by the universities and policies. Additionally, it was mentioned in the
article that students were mass produced by the university like products. If
students don’t have rights to speak freely, what’s the difference between them
and robots? Students are human beings, and they deserve to speak freely for
themselves. Finally, as the movement went on, UC Berkeley seemed more likely
became a battleground instead of a university. Students and deans, police,
president became hostile to each other. I just saw harm of the movement to all of them,
and the same for all the other student movements.
Question:
After the success of this movement, free speech
movement happened again in a lot of universities. Should free speech become a
recognized right instead of letting students fight for it again and again?
Reference:
1. Cohen, R.
(1985). Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Paving the Way for Campus
Activism. OAH Magazine of History. Retrieved November 05,
2017.
2. Past
Daily. (2013, December 2). [Digital Image] “Trouble At The
Knowledge Factory – Berkeley Free Speech Movement – December 2, 1964” Retrieved November 05, 2017 from http://pastdaily.com/2013/12/02/trouble-knowledge-factory-berkeley-free-speech-movement-december-2-1964/
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