Pesky protestors or devoted activists, the park blocks are open to everyone
Throughout my college experience, a constant that I could always count on was that, come rain or shine, there were always people in the South Park Blocks yelling about something. Now in my last term, I’m realizing that I haven’t heard any rants about God, the environment or what-have-you for months. After the monsoon spring we’ve been having, the weather (not to mention the tumultuous political climate) has finally become ideal for these crusading opinion-touters, but lately they’re few and far between.
Other students I’ve talked to have noticed this absence—this blissfully peaceful silence!—as well, which only confirms that the diatribes are as obnoxious and intrusive as I’d imagined.
“It might’ve been the beginning of last term,” says Vanessa Bravo, a music education post-bacchalaureate student. “I don’t know if they were fundamentalists or if they were just very conservative, but they were saying “God” a lot and people were kind of getting upset.”
It’s even more upsetting for students who live on or near the park blocks, frequently awakened by threats of fire and brimstone or the holy beats of Cedric, the religious rapper who used to troll the area in years past. At least he was creative, though.
According to the University Planning department, there’s no explanation for the decrease in speakers. While PSU does keep track of events that are taking place in the South Park Blocks, the land is actually owned by the Portland Parks and Recreation Department, meaning it’s public space and free speech applies.
Shawn Rodgers, Portland Parks and Recreation’s manager of customer service said, “Some challenges in it being a public space is the fact that Constitutional rights apply, and the nature of what people talk about because of that…People have a lot of complaints about that.”
And there may be lots of complaints about the messages people are spewing, but unless they’re violating city noise ordinances, there’s not much to be done. “We’re in an election year, so you’d think that there would be a certain level of activity,” said Rodgers. “It’s been a quiet year.”
Quiet for now, but in years past, the parks blocks have been alight with controversy.
PSU is a unique school for a number of reasons, one of which being the fact that as Oregon’s largest university, it’s located in downtown Portland in the midst of the city. This sets it apart from the University of Oregon or Oregon State University, with more traditional college campuses that might not allow outside speakers or have stricter regulations on such tirades.
And while the South Park Blocks may be public, they are encircled almost everywhere by privately owned buildings and private residences for students. So when a loudmouth comes along, it feels like an infringement of those private spaces.
“I did question how people could come onto public state school property. I was confused by that because it didn’t seem like the place for that. Maybe if we were on a religious campus,” Bravo said. “If it’s public, then anybody could be there and be persuasive to students and try to meld their minds to something that doesn’t have PSU approval.” She added that it might be acceptable “if it were student-run.”
Perhaps I’m also swayed by the fact that (let’s be honest) most demonstrators are spouting religious propaganda, a cause I’m not in favor of, and that these invectives usually incite screaming matches, when college campuses are supposed to make students feel safe.
On the other hand, though, if an individual was campaigning for a women’s right to choose, I would probably think of them as an activist that’s trying to raise public awareness as opposed to an overzealous crusader.
No matter how much I want to argue against people speaking in the park blocks, just because I disagree with (most) of the messages that get proposed there, college campuses are supposed to encourage inquiry and critical thinking, communication, the diversity of human experience, and ethics and social responsibility. In fact, these are the exact goals of the University Studies program at PSU.
In a way, park block discourse actually supports the goals of PSU.
I suppose what I have the biggest problem with, then, is simply the noise factor. Who knows how long this lull in public discourse will last? In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy the birds chirping and the steady hum of students (quietly) enjoying our shared public space.
