Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                            Matt Dulin    Barrett Goldsmith    Zach Lee 
                Jim Parsons            Christian Schmidt           Blake Whitaker

Trash talk

The Drop-In Expression Area on campus hasn't exactly been overwhelmed by demonstrations. And that's good, because for the past several weeks, it has been covered by two huge dumpsters. That makes the area, which is designed to be a place for spontaneous student gatherings and demonstrations, useless.

The dumpsters, put there by a contractor working on the new wing of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library, didn't exactly create a friendly atmosphere. Indeed, they covered the area, and their removal will leave a muddy, track-ridden postage stamp of a free expression area.

One dumpster has already been removed and the other may be gone by the time you read this, but that's beside the point. Located on a 15 by 75-foot strip of grass between two sidewalks, the area is tucked away in an odd corner of campus. Few students use those sidewalks and the Power Plant is probably the noisiest building on campus.

Why is the area there, instead of, say, Butler Plaza, in front of the UC Satellite or Lynn Eusan Park? All of these locations are both larger and in areas frequented more by students. 

It certainly couldn't be because the UH administration doesn't really want groups meeting, freely expressing their opinions and influencing other students passing by such a demonstration. Certainly not.

UH administrators have always supported student efforts at free speech. Right? Except when they went to court to stop the Pro-Life Cougars from bringing an anti-abortion display to campus. And when they resisted making changes in the free speech policy in the UH Student Handbook, despite a court order to do so.

So, thanks for removing the dumpsters. But let's not get carried away. Instead of the area being 100 percent worthless, it's now about 90 percent.

Make the Drop-In Expression Area an area that's relevant. Make an area where students can gather and make a difference.

Send comments to dccampus@mail.uh.edu