“Come write on the free speech ball, put anything you want with no restrictions,” shouted CFACT National Field Coordinator Greg Neff as he rolled a behemoth beachball through Mississippi State’s “Drill Field,” a main pedestrian corridor running through the SEC school’s campus by the Student Union. “Surprised students ask, “you mean I can really write anything I want.” “Yes,” he responded, “college is supposed to be about hearing and debating ideas from all perspectives and we are here providing a fun way to promote that dialogue.”
Over the course of the lunch hours, which are typically the primetime for such events, approximately 100 students participated writing everything from their favorite Bible verses to funny slogans. They drew cartoons and promoted candidates. You had capitalists and marxists both writing their ideas. The end results truly demonstrated the diverse ideas that are typically found on a modern college campus.
CFACT, amongst its primary focus of promoting free market environmental and energy policy, understands that promoting free speech, especially on overwhelmingly leftwing college campuses, is of the utmost importance because all too often these bastions of progressivism deny a voice to opposing ideas. This is why we took the time to go onto campus to remind students and faculty alike that the college experience is meant to be an atmosphere of respectful debate.
Towards the end of the trip one faculty member we got a chance to talk with about the full CFACT mission but wished to remain anonymous said, “it’s good to see a conservative voice back on campus. The left has active clubs and the conservatives need to know they aren’t alone.”
CFACT will continue working towards establishing a permanent presence on this campus.
