Under Protest:

Will ISU's Draft Protest Rules Restrict Free Speech?

By John K. Wilson

ISU Students exercise their freedom of speech.

Last March, when political science graduate student Nino Selvaggio stood up in front of a Disney recruiting meeting and refused to stop talking about Disney's sweatshops, he helped spark a campus debate about the limits of free expression at ISU. Although the criminal trespassing charges against Selvaggio were quickly dropped, a committee of the Academic Senate began to examine the topic, as well as charges by the protesters that campus police restricted their rights by keeping them out of the event and preventing them from passing out fliers.

At the same time, administrators started to look into the free speech issue. Brent Paterson, the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, says: "In regards to policies for campus protests, we discovered that the University does not have a policy. I first became aware of the lack of a policy when an individual was directed to me last summer for permission to hold a protest on campus. Being new to Illinois State (started in April 2001), I searched for a University policy on campus demonstrations. I was not able to find one nor could anyone direct me to a University policy. This situation prompted me to work with the appropriate campus entities to develop a policy that protects the rights of freedom of speech, expression, petition and peaceful assembly while at the same time recognizing the University's right to regulate reasonable time, place and manner restrictions." [Full Story] [View Protest Policy]

Native Americans Are Not Mascots!

By Adam Davenport

Over the past couple of months here at Illinois State University, there has been a lot of talk about Native Americans being used as mascots. There seems to be a lot of confusion on the whole issue, so I am here to set the record straight for the uneducated and misinformed.

Native Americans are against being used as mascots for sports teams. Over 300 federally recognized tribes have openly stated they are against being used as mascots. Along with over 300 tribes, a coalition of hundreds of churches ranging from Jewish congregations to Muslim congregations, the NAACP, Big Ten universities, high schools, the Native American Student Association of ISU, the Black Student Union of ISU, and the Student Government Association of ISU have all voiced their opinion against Native Americans being used as mascots. [Full Story]

Lab Rats for Monsanto:

The Uncontrolled rBGH Experiment on America

By Karen Hudson

Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH; also known as recombinant bovine growth hormone, rBGH, recombinant bovine somatotrophin or rBST) is a genetically engineered hormone injected into cows to artificially force increased milk production. Approximately 30% of cows in the United States are injected with this controversial product.

After years of heated debate and controversy, the FDA gave agribiz giant Monsanto approval to market the rBGH product under the name Posilac. The drug went onto the market in 1994. Monsanto spent a billion dollars developing this drug and the public has been the victim of an a no-holds-barred effort to force this product into the marketplace with virtually no input from concerned consumers. In addition, taxpayers demand to know why this drug is forced onto the market to produce more milk when the excess supply of milk in the US causes the government to purchase upwards of $200 million a year to purchase surplus milk. [Full Story]

Genetics for Lunch

The Indy interviewed Central Illinois native and St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Bill Lambrecht on a visit to Bloomington this month about his new book, Dinner at the New Gene Cafe: How Genetic Engineering Is Changing What We Eat, How We Live, and the Global Politics of Food (Thomas Dunne Books).

Indy: In America, there's been very little investigative reporting about genetically engineered food. Why is that?

Lambrecht: I think there are two reasons. One, this is an issue that doesn't fall in one particular beat. It's not purely a political story, not purely a farming story, not purely an environmental story, or an economic story. It's a combination of all these stories, so I think it has fallen between the cracks. Also, journalists reflect the interests, fears, and concerns of their readers or viewers. People aren't as tuned in to this issue in the United States as they are around the world. [Full Interview]

Ends and Means:

Reflections on US Hegemony after 9/11

By Anthony DiMaggio

Does the U.S. have the right to act as global judge, jury, and executioner? And if so, how will the needs of non-Americans ever be met when the largest superpower in history dictates its will with an iron fist? When many Americans reflect on what makes our country great, they must inevitably return to the fact that we offer equality and due process under the law. When an act of violence occurs, the perpetrators of that act are found and brought to justice with minimal use of violence and repression towards others. And part of what makes us so free is the fact that we have certain unalienable rights allocated to us in the Constitution.

The Constitution serves as the supreme law of the land, which is essential to maintain a standard by which all Americans will be treated fairly. So with this necessity for law and order and the need for a mutual respect of other's rights, isn't it at least somewhat hypocritical that U.S. policy in Afghanistan has been designed to prevent innocent Afghans who have themselves been victims of the Taliban from enjoying the same liberties and freedoms we are told we deserve? [Full Story]