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Demonstration policy task force continues talks

It's only appropriate that the task force assembled to discuss the future of free speech on the SIUC campus should be so chatty.

"I'm pleased with the level of interaction," said Larry Dietz, vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, of the task force's nearly two-hour meeting Monday in Anthony Hall. "There aren't a lot of shy people."

But despite the abundance of conversation, the task force for the demonstration policy, meeting in its second closed session, did not come to any immediate resolutions or recommendations Monday. Instead, Dietz said the meeting gave the task force the opportunity to again meet at the table to begin discussing the issues that have been so divisive on campus in recent months.

"We're making progress, but it's slow," Dietz said. "We're getting there, but I wouldn't expect it to be taken care of this summer."

The task force's next meeting is scheduled for July 26.

The 13-member task force was formed in response to the many questions leveled at SIUC's demonstration policy last spring after Marc Torney, a graduating senior, was charged with violating the Student Conduct Code during a March 19 protest of the Iraq war near the Student Center. Although Torney was eventually cleared of all charges, the incident sparked a debate over the legitimacy of the University's demonstration policy, and the task force faces the dilemma of determining what, if any, changes should be made.

According to Tequia Hicks, the Undergraduate Student Government president, the most notable idea to come up during Monday's meeting was a proposed revision to the demonstration policy that would require administrative approval for an on-campus demonstration instead of the simple 24-hour notification currently required.

Hicks said she does not expect the group to come to any standing decisions anytime soon, and she says some students returning in the fall might be upset if they found things changed while they were gone.

"[Students] don't have access to a lot of the decisions that are made during the summer," Hicks said.

Dietz, noting that Mark Schneider, an associate professor in the Sociology Department, will be joining the task force from this point on, said he does not expect any decisions to be made until the fall semester and that the issues on the table leave room for plenty more discussion.

"We're trying to honor the fact that people are free to express themselves," Dietz said, "but we're trying to figure out the appropriate time and place."