Liberty Tree: Joint initiative to celebrate First Amendment freedoms
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 4:36PM By Joshua Johnson
Special to The Johnsonian
The First Amendment guarantees the right to feel how you want to feel, and you don’t have to be afraid to express it. That’s the First Amendment tweaked, personalized and placed in a nutshell.
In the spirit of this amendment, the Department of Mass Communication and the West Forum for Civic Engagement will unite for a second time to present the Liberty Tree Initiative series.
As part of the national “1 For All” campaign, the goal of the Liberty Tree Initiative is to make college students and the campus community at large aware and appreciative of the different freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Mass Communication professor Justin Brown and Karen Kedrowski, department chair of political science, first received an initial $5,000 grant in 2009. At the time, Winthrop was one of the eight campuses to receive the award. After programming success in the fall of 2009, Brown and Kedrowski recently received a second “renewal” grant for the same amount and are therefore presenting revamped series of First Amendment events this semester.
This year’s theme will focus on using the arts to get students to understand how the First Amendment can foster and protect creative works.
“We’re trying to reach even more people this time around by programs like ‘Fight the Power: A Performance by Freedom Sings,” Brown said.
The multimedia performance illustrates how music is not only important to artistic freedom, but may also foster debate about religion and politics, Brown said.
“...And in some cases be influential in leading people to peaceably assemble and petition our government for change,” Brown said.
This year’s series kicked off on Monday, Feb. 7, with “Revenge of the Banned Books,” facilitated by Winthrop English professor Jo Koster, the Literary Society and Student NCTE Affiliate members.
A presentation on social media and the First Amendment will be scheduled soon.
Applications will be submitted for all of these programs to receive cultural event designation.
