One of my favorite times of my life was when I was in college. I didn’t take the typical route that many other people take. I didn’t go to college right after high school, and started attending after I had lived quite a few years as an adult. I had to fight hard to get my life to a point where I could make college work, and I like to think that’s a big part of why my college experience meant so much to me.
It was while I was studying in college that I first learned about blogs, and how blogs can be used with great effect to spread awareness. I learned a lot about freedom of speech and expression, and how important of a right it was to be able to express political views in particular. I supported cannabis reform throughout college, and was fortunate enough to go to a university that respected my outspoken support for reform.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case everywhere. I read a story recently involving the University of Missouri censoring political speech on campus. Per Foundation for Individual Rights in Education:
Despite repeated warnings that it is violating the First Amendment rights of its students, the University of Missouri (Mizzou) refuses to allow a recognized student group to create T-shirts featuring a cannabis leaf and the university’s name.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has twice warned Mizzou that its treatment of the campus chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (MU NORML) violates the First Amendment.
“Mizzou flatly told MU NORML that it was censoring the group’s T-shirt artwork because of the message it could appear to express. That’s viewpoint discrimination, and it’s prohibited by the First Amendment,” said FIRE Vice President of Legal and Public Advocacy Will Creeley.
Missouri is likely going to be voting on medical cannabis in November. Cannabis reform is important to many people in Missouri, including on the Mizzou campus, and is a very popular political topic right now. The censoring of MU NORML’s T-shirt project is unacceptable. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has setup a tool to send a letter to the University of Missouri on your behalf. You can check it out at this link here.
