Arkansas Blog

Good. Does this mean all the other problems at Arkansas Tech are solved? No. Did this bring major national attention to the situations there? Yes. The administration there will now go under the microscope, and I fully expect to see additional changes there in terms of free speech and expression.

I'd also note that the facility the Drama department will move into it not very large, and probably does not have satisfactory spaces to conduct a large theatrical productions such as Assassins.

"The university president, Robert Brown, gets the last word. His halting of the production was not about censorship, but public safety, he emphasizes."

No, not about censorship or over-reacting or another useless band-aid gesture towards a serious problem facing America. Our food continues to be poisoned while we Walk For Cancer. Our schools more resembling low security prisons because keeping order is more important than getting to the root of why some kids are desperately troubled. Go ahead, keep expelling them at the first signs of trouble.

No wonder people are so stupid as to believe a stage prop causes violence 2 states away. Our future is fairly hopeless. The Information Age has had the opposite effect on the population.

"The university president, Robert Brown, gets the last word. His halting of the production was not about censorship, but public safety, he emphasizes."

Smells like Faubus spirit.

It's not the last word so long as we have mouths.

We've got two weeks until ASSASSINS goes up to ridicule the security measures being taken, and there are plenty of other censorship issues running rampant at Tech--not to mention the environment of fear that prevails among students and faculty.

No. Brown won't have the last word.

One question here is why that Sweet Pea guy at the Democrat-Gazette wrote a column Thursday morning that read as though it had been written, proof-read and hand-delivered by Brown himself.

The Energy Center is not a theatre. There is no proper theatre space on campus.
Will the theatre program still be around by 2010?
After all the attention, reporters, and bloggers are gone, what happens then?
Let everyone pat themselves on the back, they saved a 4 day show.
Lets all get together for a beer.
Who cares about the ArkaTech, the "free" speech area, and the Prevailing School of Fear.

I care. Dr. Brown should care. The ATU Board of Trustees should care. The Legislature, The Governor, and any other elected official involved better care. This has gone on too long.
Get to the bottom of this now!

A public educational institution with a building named after Hattie Caraway(http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_caraway_hattie.htm) should be ashamed of silencing voices in the interest of making money. Arkansans should all be ashamed of ourselves for letting it get this bad.

Claude Bahls: The Dem-Gaz article was an example of poor journalism. Let's leave it at that. They got a nasty email from me following the publication of that story, and several others I'm sure. It is the ONLY example I've read so far that takes the position of the Tech Administration without question. Belongs on Fox News.

LeftHanging: It's not the end. Not if we don't let it be. There's two weeks until the show goes up--lotsa time to address the ridiculous security measures that are being taken. Not only that, but now Tech Repression is the talk of the town. The issue will be laid to rest when WE LET IT go to rest. Everyone I've spoken to about this is of the same opinion. We're not alone.

Brown has been in charge for far too long. He gives himself tenure and protects his own interests instead of the interests of the institution. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely," the age-old adage reminds us. Time for the "Prevailing School of Fear" to become what its advertised moniker signifies.

It's time for Arkansas Tech to grow up. It's up to us to get it through its growing pains.