As American citizens, exactly how free is free speech?

Apparently not at all if you happen to be Felicia Woodson, who has been asked to submit a letter of apology and resign as SGA president due to her appearance and speech at a press conference held in opposition to David Horowitz addressing the Auraria campus on Sept. 30.
This seems a little too extreme to me. I wasn’t aware that once someone became SGA president, they were essentially stripped of their natural born rights as American citizens. That is however, what Political Science Association member George Culpepper seems to be implying in so many words.

I do not personally know Felicia Woodson. I have only met briefly with her on one occasion, so I do not have any personal ties to her. But, this seems to be an attack targeting someone who was speaking her mind as a student.

Sure, she was “billed” and introduced at the conference as SGA president. But, if my memory serves me right, I believe the first words out of her mouth were how she was speaking as a concerned student, not as president.

It is understandable how some people feel she was abusing the power of her position, but it appears that a much bigger deal is being made out of the whole situation than it calls for.

She is a student. And, as a student, I believe she has as much of a right as any other student to speak out about what she believes in.

During the press conference before the Horowitz speech, I seem to recall someone responding to Woodson’s question about why we were allowing him to speak on our campus by yelling, “Free speech.” I guess our so-called free speech doesn’t work both ways.

It also strikes me as a little interesting that Culpepper is a member of the Auraria College Republicans. Please allow me to play devil’s advocate for a moment.

Let’s say, for example, that a Democrat was giving a speech about an issue Woodson disagreed with. I can’t help but wonder if Culpepper would be making the same fuss about that scenario that he is about the current one.

Reading that he is affiliated with the Auraria Campus Republicans should stick out as a red flag when looking at all sides of the debate. Any intelligent person would probably see this and at least pause to question if there were any political motives involved in the request for Woodson’s resignation.

In an article featured in the Oct. 9 edition of The Metropolitan entitled “Woodson asked to resign,” a great statement by former SGA member LaShanta Smith was made. She was quoted as saying, “She has a right to express her opinion. She’s a student first and a president second.”
Even if she was speaking as SGA president, as many still believe she did, she would have been pointing out an issue that concerned several students. You can never represent every single student’s opinion on campus. But, if she didn’t even make an attempt, I would have felt that she was doing all of us a great disservice as students.

Perhaps she did go against the request made to SGA members to stay unbiased. I don’t know what exactly was told to this group, as I am not in a position to speak on it. One can only speculate.

But telling her that she can’t voice her own personal opinions as a student based on her position in the organization is, to me, flirting with the demon called censorship.

I have heard several Metro students back Woodson by saying things like, “Horowitz is a racist, and Felicia had a right as a black woman to make her speech,” and “President or not, she is still a student at Metro.” These are arguments that should be taken into consideration when asking for her resignation, as well as her choice to practice her constitutional right of free speech.