The Office of Student Affairs (OSA) has effectively reserved the Park Blocks stage from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day of the year. This move comes in response to complaints about Daniel J. Lee, known as “Preacher Dan.”
Campus Public Safety is not able to remove an individual from the stage area unless a student group has reserved the right to use it.
“If a student group does reserve a space, it’s their space,” said Charlotte Kriswandi of the Smith Memorial Student Union scheduling office.
OSA will surrender its yearlong reservation for any PSU student group who wishes to use the stage.
“The hope is that this will alleviate some of the difficulty in legally ensuring an environment free of borderline hate speech,” states a memo from Wendy Endress, associate vice provost for Student Affairs.
Endress said the move by OSA was “To better provide a community that feels safe for everyone.”