Free speech on campus

Some campuses are making restrictions on where and how students can protest. Some schools are even trying to eliminate the practice of 'chalking,' where students write protest messages in chalk on sidewalks and elsewhere. There is nothing wrong with chalking as an avenue of expression as long as people remember some fundamental rules, says Dr. Bob Glenn, vp, student affairs and vice provost, enrollment management. "There must be ... tolerance for the expression of ideas, and it should be clearly understood that even the most offensive ideas don't call for the curbing of speech--rather they call out for more speech." The First Amendment is "labor-intensive." But no chalk on buildings, he adds.

Contact Glenn at 615-898-2440.
rglenn@mtsu.edu

Exports vital to economy

In Tennessee, export shipments account for 11.1 percent of the state's overall value of shipments, according to an article by Dr. Steven Livingston, associate professor, political science, in the Spring 2003 "Global Commerce," published by MTSU's Business and Economic Research Center. That amounts to about two-thirds of the national percentage and makes Tennessee the 28th most export-intensive economy in the U.S. The state is in a "catch-up" mode. Tennessee is a top 10 exporter of such items as man-made staple fibers (ranks 2nd), cotton (3rd), printed books (6th), glass (7th), and tobacco products (9th).

Contact Livingston, editor, at 615-898-2720.
slivings@mtsu.edu

Don't know much about history

Dr. Alan Boehm, special collections librarian at MTSU, wonders who wants to read Plato's Republic off a computer screen? In spite of all the "messianic talk" about the imminent death of the book caused by the Internet and digitized information, Boehm feels confident that print technology is still necessary and functional. "Our society really doesn't value history. Every time I hear an information messiah declaim that someday all books will be online, I always have to wonder about who's going to pay for it--who values history this much?"

Contact Boehm at 615-904-8501.
aboehm@mtsu.edu

THIS WEEK'S AUDIO CLIPS AT MTSU

http://www.mtsu.edu/~proffice/audio/audio_clips.html

TOPIC 1: June is packed with events in the new Tennessee Miller Coliseum, including a 4-H horse show, a youth horsemanship camp and the Tennessee High School Rodeo finals.
TOPIC 2: MTSU students, Natalie Calcaterra of Franklin and John Trenton of Somerset, Penn., share their thoughts on studying in France this summer for 10 weeks--as well as their feelings about the friction between France and the U.S. over the recent war in Iraq.
TOPIC 3: Rabbi Bent Melchior discusses one of the most remarkable events of World War II--the escape from Nazi persecution by 7,000 Danish Jews who found refuge in neutral Sweden. This year marks the 60th anniversary of that event, and Melchior describes the exodus as uncommonly successful.