Civic Issues I Matthew Mouck

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March for Our Expression

Believe it or not, most of the news focusing on student self-expression is still dominated by things like the student walkout and the gun control march. This again makes it a little hard to focus on just college students' self-expression, but regardless it's important to investigate the consequences. The last blog we looked specifically at school administration relations with the student body in terms of walking out, so this week we'll look at some responses to the marches. On Saturday, March 24 people around America flooded the streets in a political protest. According to the New York Times , there were marches in 390 of the 495 congressional districts. That is difficult to imagine such a cohesive act across the nation. Even more interesting, this was a largely student-run movement. Here in State College, the march began at the high school and ended on Old Main. I participated in the March, not for personal reasons, but primarily because my friend feels very strong...

Where Are the Student Leaders Really Coming From?

This has been a really big week for student expression. It has reached even national levels of importance. It has been the headline for news. But it's not even about college. Rather, high school student self-expression and protest has taken the nation by storm. This certainly diverges from what one normally expects when hearing student protest. And this is meant to be a blog that is dedicated to examining the issues of college students, but every recent news article is dominated by the protest that just occurred. And, to be quite honest, I would be remiss to neglect something so important to student protest. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's pretty simple. Across the country, students filed out of their classes at 10:00 am and remained outside of their classes for 17 minutes. It was a symbolic 17 minutes for the 17 lives lost during the Florida shooting. View out of my window of #NationalWalkoutDay student protest in Madison. pic.twitter.com/jeeq2sCV...

Is There Hate for Hate of Hate Speech?

Before beginning this post, I'd like for us to take a moment to acknowledge the school shooting that occurred today in Florida. There are two confirmed dead, and even more, injured . I'm wishing the best for the families that have been impacted by this tragedy and I'm hoping the school and community are able to heal from this. *Update: As of 12:03am, the death count has risen to 17 * There is nothing to say. I wish I could hug my parents, but calling them is the best I can do. But this is a blog about student self-expression. So shifting into the topic of student self-expression at college, we can actually look at Penn State itself for its recent controversial speaker. About a week and a half ago, a small group of men came to Penn State and argued against pretty much everything. I'm not sure what their goal was because when I say they were against everything, I mean they were pretty much against everything imaginable. Penn State is no stranger to controversial s...

May No Act of Ours Bring Shame

For the glory of old State, For her founders strong and great, For the future that we wait, Raise the song, raise the song. Sing our love and loyalty, Sing out hopes that, bright and free, Rest, O Mother dear, with thee, All with thee, all with thee When we stood at childhood's gate, Shapeless in the hands of fate, Thou didst mold us, dear old State, Dear old State, dear old State May no act of ours bring shame, To one heart that loves they name, May our lives but swell thy fame, Dear old State, dear old State." If you don't immediately know what this is, I'm pretty sure you're at the wrong school. When I think about all the Penn State stuff that I have, I realize I might like Penn State too much... I mean, who really needs a Penn State sweatshirt, two Penn State crew necks, two Penn State mugs, numerous (I seriously have no idea how many) Penn State shirts, a Penn State water bottle, a Penn State binder, Penn Stat...