Friday, March 2, 2007

"Today's Response" will go on hiatus March 5-9 for spring break. "Today's Response" will return on March 12.


Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

"Bong Hits 4 Jesus"

In 2002, as the Olympic torch passed through Juneau, Alaska on its way to Salt Lake City, students were released from class so they could watch. A youngster named Frederick Joseph displayed a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as the torch passed. Joseph was suspended for 10 days. Joseph sued on the grounds that his First Amendment rights were violated. After losing at the trial court, he won in the appeals court. The school system is appealing that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says, "In general, the court has said students do not give up their rights when they enter the classroom. However, those rights are limited when student speech is inconsistent with the school mission or is actually disruptive." So who, if anyone, is at fault? Burriss says if the banner seriously promoted drug use, it was inconsistent with the school's mission. But if the banner was not disruptive, the student was within his rights.

Contact Burriss at 615-898-2983.
lburriss@mtsu.edu

It's your turn to speak.

The public and the press are invited to an open session at 10:30 a.m. TODAY in the State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business and Aerospace Building as MTSU's media ethics summit draws to a close. Summit leaders will announce the group's consensus on the issues and make recommendations for 2007 and beyond. "We'll then be taking our findings to the White House, Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, colleges and universities and professional and academic associations," Dr. Thomas W. Cooper, ethicist-in-residence, says. "We want to move the agenda to the public sector so we can see it implemented." Questions from guests are welcomed.

Contact the College of Mass Communication at 615-898-2813.

Freedom on display

"Free at Last! Emancipation and Reconstruction in Tennessee," an exhibit created by the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area (TCWNHA), will travel throughout middle Tennessee this spring and summer. The two-panel exhibit, which is on display now through March 30 at the Roy Bailey African-American History Center in Lebanon, emphasizes the significance of emancipation as a result of the Civil War, says Antoinette van Zelm, historian for the TCWNHA. "Freedom for former slaves was a key outcome of the Civil War, and it was the slaves themselves who made it happen," van Zelm said. "They took advantage of the presence of the occupying Union army to break down the bonds of slavery."

For a complete list of tour stops, contact Laura Holder, manager of the TCWNHA, at 615-898-2947 or via e-mail at lholder@mtsu.edu.

TR EXTRA

LET'S MAKE TRACKS!--Don't wait until the last minute to sign up your youngsters for the next recording workshop in the John Bragg Mass Communication Building. MTSU student Ryan York, who teaches guitar, bass and drums at Chambers Guitars and Musical Instruments in Murfreesboro. The deadline for the next four-week series of lessons is March 9. For a fee of $125 per student, kids ages 12-17 will be introduced to cassette four-track recording, computer recording, electronic music, and digital eight-track recording on portable equipment in two classes each week. The recording workshops, which will take place on Thursday evening and Sunday afternoon each week, are sponsored by the Youth Culture and Arts Center. For more information about the workshops, contact York at bororecording@gmail.com. To learn more about the Youth Culture and Arts Center, go to http://www.youthculturecenter.org. A workshop syllabus may be accessed there by clicking on “Workshops” at the bottom of the page.

“THE EMPIRES OF THE FUTURE ARE THE EMPIRES OF THE MIND.”—WINSTON CHURCHILL--The cigar-chomping bulldog of Britain during World War II, Winston Churchill’s wartime leadership is legendary. But what about the other Churchills—prisoner of war, disgraced politician, painter, and Nobel Prize-winning author? MTSU is offering a July 2007 study-abroad history course which will take students to the Cabinet War Rooms underneath London, as well as Parliament, Churchill’s birthplace, his country estate, and other sites related to the life of this great statesman. The instructor will be Dr. Jim Williams, a Churchill Fellow of Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., site of Churchill’s famous “Iron Curtain” speech in 1946. Contact Williams at 615-898-2633 or jhwillia@mtsu.edu or Jennifer Campbell, MTSU Study Abroad Office, at 615-898-5179 or jjcampbe@mtsu.edu.

BRICK BY BRICK--Each and every brick to be laid in the MTSU Veterans Memorial will represent the support of an entire community for the enlightenment and inspiration of future generations. The bricks may be reserved by all those who wish to honor a veteran or active-duty service member or merely acknowledge their support for the construction of a permanent on-campus memorial to MTSU faculty, students, staff and administrators who perished while serving their country. The bricks will be integrated into the overall memorial design. All proceeds will help to pay for the memorial, which will be an outdoor classroom that includes a wall with the names of the military personnel. To purhcase a brick with a memorial message, send a tax-deductible check of $150 payable to “MTSU Foundation—Veterans Memorial,” to P.O. Box 109, Murfreesboro, TN 37132. Credit cards also are accepted. Address any questions about brick purchases or donations to Robyn Kilpatrick at 615-898-5223 or rkilpatr@mtsu.edu.