The Menard Center for Constitutional Studies hosted a free speech workshop on March 30 in Centennial Hall. The workshop was held in an educational discussion style.

The workshop was held to educate students and get them thinking about what rights are granted to them under the first amendment, according to political science Professor Adam Kunz.

“It’s a free speech workshop that is hosted from the Menard Center, partnered with the Fire Network to use their manual,” Kunz said.

“The seminar is designed to do two things,” Kunz said. “One is to give a basis of what free speech is on college campuses, the second is to get people thinking about it in context with hypotheticals that we’ve done.” 

The workshop began with Eric Kasper, political science professor and director of the Menard Center for Constitutional Studies, and Kunz giving background information into the first amendment. 

This is to ensure all students at the workshop have knowledge on the topics being discussed, according to Kasper.

“It is a workshop focused on freedom of expression, and so it is looking in particular at the first amendment and freedom of expression rights for students so that if they don’t have any background on that, then they get some at the beginning of the workshop,” Kasper said.

The students participating were presented free speech scenarios, according to Kasper.

“We give them different scenarios and then ask them if they think it was constitutional,” Kasper said, “(The workshop is) getting students to work through the process of trying to evaluate based on Supreme Court decisions if the university is acting in accordance with the constitution.”

Workshops like this are very important on places like college campuses, according to third-year political science and legal studies student and Menard Center Intern Elizabeth TenBarge.

“I think it is really important to not only understand the rights that we have, but know how to exercise them,” TenBarge said. “Educating the student body about how to go about exercising rights in a constitutionally protected way really enforces the ability of students to have a say.”

Thanks to donations from the Menard family, the Menard Center was able to give $100 scholarships to students that participated in the workshop, according to Kasper.

“Through funding that we received, we are able to provide a $100 scholarship to each student that participates,” Kasper said. “That is used to reward students and also to incentivize people to be there. There’s also a dinner provided. The funding comes from the Menard family.”

Attending workshops such as those hosted by the Menard Center are beneficial to students in learning what they are able to contribute, according to third-year political science and legal studies student Nicholas Johnson.

“There are certainly issues today that our generation feels extremely passionate about,” Johnson said. “It’s very important to know what we can do, how to exercise our rights and use our voices responsibly.”

Becker can be reached at [email protected].