Using the Geographer's Tools to Address Local Issues

This site was set up to engage the greater Athens - Ohio University community to examine some local social issues geographically in order to better understand their nuances and help contribute to the production of knowledge - local and not-so-local.

The main issue that has been followed is the 'free speech zone' debate at OU. There are some postings below. I have been personally interested in how the zoning of speech affects traditional public forum. In this case the College Green.

Other posts explore the role of psychogeography, namely the derive (French Situationists), in deconstructing our previous perceptions of the city of Athens. By taking purposeful walks throughout the city we saw things we never experienced in the normal paths of everyday (to/from work, to/from class). By creating mathematical algorithms (i.e. first left, second right) we went out on walks and documented some of what we saw. There are many ways to do this. We also walked and traversed the path of least resistance. At any given time along the way if we felt like we should turn, especially because we felt resistant to going down a certain block, then that is what we did. I think we did it the other way, too - following the path of most resistance.

The name 'Athens Geographic Expedition' comes from the pioneering work of Bill Bunge in the cities of Detroit and Toronto with his Detroit and Toronto Geographical Expeditions. He helped to redefine how geographers could engage their work with local communitites.

Contradiction

“Student Voices: College Green has served as a forum for the voices of Ohio University’s Students throughout its history. Whether supporting civil rights, advocating for the abolishment of women’s curfews, or in protest, students have and will continue to play a vital role in shaping Ohio University”. Interestingly enough, this plaque lies on the walkway a few feet from the very same War Memorial that has been at the center of this controversy.

Free Speech Zones on College Green

College Green used to be an open forum. The current zoning policy limits group interactions to the yellow 'zones'.

Free Speech Zones at OU

There are 22 such 'zones' located across the Athens campus.

Memory and Place

The Class of 2005 dedicated plaques to celebrate the College Green. They certainly contribute to give any passersby a sense of the place that is College Green.

Preacher Days on the Green

Policy Precedent

OU Administrators claim their speech policy has legal footing due to the following case, Spingola v. Ohio.

http://athensnews.com/index.php?action=viewarticle&section=archives&story_id=9157

Memorializing Speech

Free Speech on OU's College Green

On November 3, 2006 students at Ohio University (OU) took to the War Memorial on College Green to protest the War in Iraq by holding a vigil for fallen American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. Over winter break a student leader was sent a letter to his home outlining how the actions of his group, the newly reorganized local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), violated University speech/ ‘use of outdoor space’ policies. On February 2, 2007 these students consolidated their efforts with other students and returned to the War Memorial to protest the idea of ‘free speech zones’ and to highlight the lack of a public forum for the student voice. Nationwide, university administrators have introduced similar policies that place geographical restrictions on speech activities by regulating where these activities take place. Free speech zones on campuses across the country have received national attention in the last decade in the popular press as well as in scholarly writing.

College Green at OU has a long tradition as a forum for the University community, but yet in recent years has been regulated by zoning policies. According to students involved in the activities on February 2, the rally was about the larger goal of finding a forum where students’ voices would be recognized and heard. Following the tradition passed down from their predecessors from the 1970’s, students have used, and continue to use, College Green as a forum for expressing and exercising their freedom of speech. See figures 2 and 3 below for scenes depicting the use of the College Green as a forum for the exchange of ideas in both the 1970s and in 2007.

After witnessing the February 2 protest/rally my interest was piqued and I decided to take this on as a project. On that day I was walking across College Green on my way to a local cafe, entering the Green from the Southeast corner near Galbreth Chapel. Upon entering the Green I noticed a University official speaking with passersby about how he was just making sure nothing got out of hand. Also there were two uniformed policeman standing at attention – one at the foot of the stairs of Chubb Hall and the other on the West Portico of Memorial Auditorium.

I walk through this place everyday; I consider it to be a ‘public square’. Never had I seen or felt such a presence of authority there. I had not yet fully contemplated the meaning of this place or the rules – both spoken and unspoken – which exist to regulate interaction in its spaces. As I approached the War Memorial I began to hear the speeches by the different student activists. One of those students, I would find out later, was the SDS member who had received the official letter. I watched for twenty or thirty minutes. The same official that I had passed by back near Cutler Hall approached and spoke to other faculty and staff, who watched from a distance, reiterating what he had told the others – that he was there to make sure nothing got out of hand. Never did the official attempt to break up the event. Other people commented about how the students were ‘trying to recreate the 70’s’.