Complaints in response to a College Republicans poster stating “Obama ’08: Socialism” led Student Activities and administration to revoke its initial approval of the public announcement.
According to Director of Student Activities Doug Hurley a student worker approved the poster because it met the general requirements.
“The poster was approved by a student because it did (technically) meet the requirements in that it advertised an event of a registered student organization and included contact information Hurley wrote in an e-mail. After staff saw the poster however it was our opinion that the main purpose and intent of the poster was to make an assertion about Barack Obama so we felt it was best suited for the Freedom Wall.”
According to College Republicans Vice President Chris Garcia the poster displayed on Oct. 27 served as an advertisement for the organization’s Oct. 29 meeting. Among other topics of discussion the meeting focused on Barack Obama’s policies which College Republicans find similar to socialism as evidenced by the poster.
Garcia said he did not view the poster as offensive nor was that its purpose. He disagrees with Pepperdine administration’s decision to remove the poster.
“I feel like its censorship at its worst Garcia said. [People] shouldn’t be offended that it says Obama and Socialism in the same poster. They should be offended that Obama is a socialist. You can’t ignore the fact when Obama said he wants to spread the wealth that he wants to raise taxes on the rich for fairness. You can’t ignore those facts and just write it off as not being socialistic … Pepperdine’s handling of the situation was completely wrong.”
Mark Davis dean of student affairs said he received an e-mail on behalf of many students expressing displeasure with the poster.
“I only received one e-mail complaint from a staff member but this person was relaying the sentiments of many who were offended because they believe it was an inaccurate portrayal of Obama and should have been posted on the Freedom Wall rather than event advertising space Davis said.
Unlike other campus spaces used strictly for event advertising, the Freedom Wall, located outside Tyler Campus Center, allows students to express their opinions freely.
Associate Dean of Students Tabatha Jones said students have utilized the Freedom Wall a great deal this year because of the presidential election, doing so with the intention of creating a healthy and constructive dialogue.”
“It is our expectation that student-led events be promoted with a spirit of civility which means that such promotions are free of unnecessarily pejorative or demeaning mischaracterizations Jones wrote in an e-mail. By and large in this political season I have been impressed that the vast majority of student-led events from all viewpoints have been promoted in such a fair way.”
Emerson Siegle president of the Young Democrats said he does not deny the College Republican’s right to freedom of speech but believes the poster created a regrettable situation and administration reacted in an appropriate manner.
“I think the fundamental thing that I want to stress is that the whole situation is unfortunate Siegle said. It behooves everyone to approach politics from a positive issues-oriented perspective rather than using negativity and name calling because that just creates problems for everyone.”
Garcia said that on the same day there were other similar posters that the College Republicans had created and planned on hanging to advertise their meeting.
“The second posters were also approved but were stripped from one of our members by some administration person in student activities who said that the reason those posters could not go up was because it said Obama and socialism in the same poster even though it was the topic [of our group meeting] Garcia said.
The second incident with the posters involved Director of Intercultural Affairs Don Lawrence, who preferred not to comment. He said he was told by upper administration to not allow the posters to go up and that they were supposed to be approved by Doug Hurley, not just the Student Activities office.