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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Senator Merkley brings campaign to SOU Better to be ready than have to react, trainers say AHS to hold canned food drive Friday In the theater, the audience is part of the show 'Iron Mike' will be taken from Plaza perch Friday Education Every minute counts, so make punctuality a habit Helman students illustrate kindness, love SOU's 'Count Me In' campaign raises $210,000 Fun, fundraising and art at Helman Elementary School Ashland mourns death of former coach Stan Gida Environment Rite Aid cub well, could come back to southern Oregon Report: Smaller streams need further protection Bear cub wanders into Rite Aid Kalmiopsis' future at stake if mining goes forward Fires and forests evolved together, but now people are in the mix Business Shenandoah Living Funerals Will TV makeover do the trick for Mystic Treats? 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Grizzlies drop-kick Eagles Grizzlies row to raise money for regatta Southern Oregon University Raiders move up to No. 5 in Top 25 No. 11 SOU volleyball team returns home for two key matches Ashland mourns death of former coach Stan Gida SOU football team falls to No. 7 in NAIA rankings No. 4 SOU, No. 3 Carroll to square off in Frontier Conference showdown Opinion Latest Stories Granlund cartoon: Netanyahu insulted Guest Opinion: An aristocracy of the people Other Views: Help for Oregon's forests Granlund cartoon: Haunted White House 2014 Our View: The Hills are alive Editorial Other Views: Help for Oregon's forests Our View: The Hills are alive Our View: Fix the 'free speech zone' Our View: Cheering Ashland's own Kitzhaber is the better choice Letters Letters to the Editor, Oct. 24 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 23 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 21 Letters to the Editor, Oct. 21 Letters to the editor Guest opinions Guest Opinion: An aristocracy of the people Teaching the First Amendment Guest Opinion: Media are part of the pot prohibition problem Wilderness successes could be lost if funding not restored Religion and politics in America Revels Latest Stories Community blog: Celebrating Dylan Thomas Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas Repertory singers prepare 'powerful' opening concert Griffin heads to Historic Ashland Armory Best Bets Oct. 23-30 Theater New plays debut at ANPF Music Repertory singers prepare 'powerful' opening concert Q&A: Broken Down Guitars The Farr Side: Bryan Adams releases album of influential hits Tutunov Piano Series begins at SOU Q&A: Becky Alter Visual Art Ashland's First Friday Art Walk Movies Movie review: ‘Whiplash’ hits high notes Movie review: ‘Birdman,’ Keaton soar Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas 'Fury' shows the grim toll of war Listings for Varsity Theatre and Ashland Street Cinemas Food and Drink Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories In the theater, the audience is part of the show Community Blog: Breathing Peace 17 things you never knew about turkeys Travel: Quiet time on Cape Cod 5 Things to Do This Weekend (Oct. 31-Nov. 2) Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs NEWS NOW Guest Opinion: An aristocracy of the people ... Calendar: Wednesday, Oct. 29 ... Our View: The Hills are alive ... Guest Opinion: An aristocracy of the people ... Calendar: Wednesday, Oct. 29 ... Our View: The Hills are alive ... RELOCATIONS Teaching the First Amendment DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Oct. 25, 2014 @ 12:01 am Posted Oct. 25, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Social News All of us are indebted to Dylan Bloom and the five other SOU students for challenging the university’s unconstitutional restriction on free speech. I say all of us, because it’s important that public property remain open to First Amendment exercise. So important, in fact, that if University officials haven’t embodied that principle in school policy by the time this column is published, I shall personally come onto campus and leaflet and defy arrest. As established in federal jurisprudence, the principle is simple and reasonable. Public property belongs to the public and thus is open to non-commercial speech as long as the exercise doesn’t interfere with the primary purpose of the property. We can’t go into SOU classrooms and we can’t impede traffic in the open areas and we can’t be too noisy. But any of us can stand in the open areas and express our views. Regarding the importance of this rule, I’ll quote the news release Peace House issued when we were teaching it to postal officials and the police in Central Point in 2012 (much of this was published in the Mail Tribune on October 3; the statements in single quotes were mine): “One [issue] is that those who run public agencies must obey the rules that are promulgated to govern their conduct. ‘It is unfortunate that sometimes people who are supposed to be public servants act like autocrats. When they do, they must be taught that Americans are ruled by law, not by personal dictate.’ “The other issue is the preservation of opportunities for ordinary people to espouse their views. ‘Most of us cannot afford to pay to communicate our views. Traditionally people have depended on public spaces such as sidewalks, parks, and the grounds of public facilities to distribute their printed messages. It doesn’t matter whether you are a tea partier, an Occupier, a Jehovah’s Witness, or a candidate for city council, you have a stake in asserting this crucial First Amendment right.’” Here’s the context of that news release. On Tax Day that year our volunteers distributed leaflets outside several valley post offices pointing out how much of the income tax dollar was devoted to war. Uniquely, our volunteer at Central Point was ordered off the premises under threat of arrest. In September I got around to challenging this illegal exercise of authority. First I tried to educate the officials, asking them to read their own regulations governing the matter. They refused, so I began leafleting on the walkway outside. They called the police. I explained the situation and the law to the two officers who came. They were polite and listened, but ultimately they issued me a citation for trespassing, upon which I left, as we had agreed. Jackson County District Attorney Beth Heckert refused to prosecute, being more devoted to upholding the law than supporting those in authority even when they’re wrong (which is often not the case with DAs). So I returned to the Central Point post office and leafleted unchallenged. In 1982 I spent five days in the Baton Rouge city jail teaching the postmaster there the same lesson. This past Tax Day I had to teach it to the postmistress in Phoenix. On that occasion, the police she summoned listened to me, perhaps because there was a Channel 5 camera present, and they urged her to call the USPS legal office in Portland, which told her exactly what I had tried to tell her. She wasn’t happy, but she complied. I conclude with the motto of the American Civil Liberties Union: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Herb Rothschild Jr. is chairman of the board of Peace House. 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