Keep Student Initiated Events At NEMCC!

The purpose of this petition is to keep student-sponsored events a part of the Northeast Mississippi Community College campus. Ray Scott, head of the Student Government Association and the Director of Housing for the community college, said that starting next year (effective Fall Semester 2003) all student sponsored events would be canceled, and even events planned with a campus faculty advisor would be extremely restrictive. This is a definite blow to students' rights, the First Amendment, and the college at large. Since there are less than five college-sponsored events on-campus per month (on average), this also means less time for the students to spend on-campus. This move is unwarranted. Students should not be regarded as something to be controlled. Students are customers; Those who attend college pay for it themselves, and expect something in return. If you owned a business, would you do everything you could to please potential customers, or would you regard every customer as a shoplifter and make them so uncomfortable that they would have no other choice but to leave? That is our problem, and through your help, you can be the solution. Thank you. It is not fair to limit others' freedom of speech because they do not agree with your own.