Bucknell students petition to ‘exercise our right to free chalk expression’
‘The administration does not have the right to determine what is and is not acceptable speech on our campus’
Following the removal of not-University-sanctioned chalk found this morning on the quad, Bucknell students are petitioning to have the regulations regarding chalk on campus removed.
According to the petition, available here, the chalk on the quad this morning included the quotes “Exams = Servility, Social Promotion, Hierarchy,” “We are not post-racial,” and “When was the last time you thought critically?” among others. These messages were erased around 9am this morning by university facilities.
According to the petition, the removal of this chalk “speaks to the broader power-washing, literal and figurative, of critical expression on Bucknell’s campus.” Furthermore, the petition claims “the administration does not have the right to determine what is and is not acceptable speech on our campus” and that removing the chalk was “counter to Bucknell’s mission statement which encourages ‘critical thinking…characterized by continued intellectual exploration, creativity, and imagination.'”
The signing of the petition is expected to be followed by “faculty and students of all stripes [coming] together on the quad at 11AM on Friday to exercise our right to free ‘chalk’ expression. Please join us and write what you wish.”
Photos by Hannah Rickertsen.