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The first amendment road show
March 16, 2009
PLU’s Society of Professional Journalists treated more than 100 high school journalism students to a free lunch last weekend.
The First Amendment Free Food Festival traveled to Lacey’s Timberline High School for the Washington Journalism Education Association Spring State Conference with the goal of educating high school journalism students on their First Amendment right.
In order to receive a free lunch, each student had to sign a passport that waived their First Amendment rights.
Once students entered the “Republic of Parkland” for free food, they were greeted with strict laws regarding speech and expression.
Students could not sit in groups of three and could only talk about topics deemed appropriate by the dictator of the Republic, played by SPJ President Nate Hulings.
Not even the press was safe from the Republic’s rules. Hulings banned all newspapers and cameras, including SPJ videographer Jon Wedell, saying that only the dictator could choose what was newsworthy.
PLU theater students, dressed as “Enforcers” in Nazi-like military outfits, deported hippies who chanted anti-Republic rhetoric and a monk who refused to put down his Bible. Noncompliant high school students were also quickly deported and not allowed back into the Republic.
While many students ate their pizza with no fuss, others refused to enter the Republic altogether. Six students chanted “We want rights” near the border of the Republic while others waved armbands that read “Tinker”. In the late 1960s, three public school students wore black armbands to protest the U.S. government’s activity in Vietnam. In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court decided students could voice political opinions while attending school.
After the lunch, Hulings spoke to a group of students interested in hosting their own First Amendment Free Food Festival.
The First Amendment Free Food Festival is an annual event for PLU’s SPJ chapter.
Report compiled by PLU student Nate Hulings. Photos by PLU Professor Joanne Lisosky.
In order to receive a free lunch, each student had to sign a passport that waived their First Amendment rights.
Once students entered the “Republic of Parkland” for free food, they were greeted with strict laws regarding speech and expression.
Students could not sit in groups of three and could only talk about topics deemed appropriate by the dictator of the Republic, played by SPJ President Nate Hulings.
Not even the press was safe from the Republic’s rules. Hulings banned all newspapers and cameras, including SPJ videographer Jon Wedell, saying that only the dictator could choose what was newsworthy.
PLU theater students, dressed as “Enforcers” in Nazi-like military outfits, deported hippies who chanted anti-Republic rhetoric and a monk who refused to put down his Bible. Noncompliant high school students were also quickly deported and not allowed back into the Republic.
While many students ate their pizza with no fuss, others refused to enter the Republic altogether. Six students chanted “We want rights” near the border of the Republic while others waved armbands that read “Tinker”. In the late 1960s, three public school students wore black armbands to protest the U.S. government’s activity in Vietnam. In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court decided students could voice political opinions while attending school.
After the lunch, Hulings spoke to a group of students interested in hosting their own First Amendment Free Food Festival.
The First Amendment Free Food Festival is an annual event for PLU’s SPJ chapter.
Report compiled by PLU student Nate Hulings. Photos by PLU Professor Joanne Lisosky.