By snoadmin
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees our right to freedom of religion, speech, press, petition and assembly. Everyday Americans embrace these freedoms and although restrictions can be an obstruction to practicing these freedoms, people continue to take full advantage of such valued rights.
A recent event on campus concerning “The Night of the Tribades,” a play put on by Cal State Long Beach’s graduate acting program Cal Rep, proves the relevance of the First Amendment in our daily lives. In response to the school limiting freedom of speech, 24 students practiced their right to the freedom of assembly. And the fact that the Daily 49er is reporting on the event, the freedom of press is also involved in the event.
Normally, campus events varying from sporting events, art shows and plays are advertised on the school’s marquee located on Seventh Street. However, Cal State Long Beach refused to promote the play, “The Night of the Tribades,” on the board because of the word “tribade” in the title.
The word is a pejorative reference to lesbians and also a lesbian sexual act in archaic Greek terminology. According to the school, when googled, tribade’s search results come up with graphic images that the school deems inappropriate.
A flyer made by the student protest group states, “The university seems to think that vaguely suggestive sexual images are more graphic than the extremely violent images of ‘genocide’ and ‘lynching,’ two words that they have used on the marquee.”
The play is about playwright August Strindberg and his relationship with women; the use of the word tribade in the title should not be grounds for refusing to promote the play on the marquee.
Last Wednesday a group of students gathered in front of Brotman Hall to protest the decision by participating in a ‘flash mob,’ which is when “a group assembles in a public place to raise awareness of something via a physical gesture or act,” says the flyer.
Wearing shirts with the word “Tribade” printed on the front and tape covering their mouths with the word “censored,” protestors paired up and demonstrated the act of tribadism- otherwise known as ‘scissoring.’
The group wanted to bring awareness to the fact that they were being limited on their freedom of speech and expressions. Theatre arts major Courtney Knight stressed that the school should not be able to “arbitrarily pick and choose what to advertise.”
We can‘t help but agree with senior theatre arts major, Tori Fritz, who also participated in the protest. “We censor it instead of putting the word out. As artists, we have to make a stand — a strong stand — and send the school a message.”
Censorship is used to suppress speech or other forms of communication that is harmful to the general population. For the most part though, it is that act of censorship that causes more harm. Of course, it is necessary in some situations.
However, the censorship of art on a college campus is wrong. It is a title of a play, it’s not demonstrating the actual act up on the board. The university should be the last ones to get in the way of its student’s First Amendment rights.
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