Student Protest at the College of Saint Catherine Against Administration Violating Free Speech

A protest against controversial policies of the College of Saint Catherine administration is scheduled for Monday, October 27th at 11:50 AM on the steps Derham Hall on the campus in Saint Paul.

The administration of the College of Saint Catherine has without notification changed campus policy to remain politically neutral during the 2008 election. In order to accomplish this, they have banned all political speakers from campus. This is, in a quote from CSC President Sr. Andrea Lee’s recent letter to the Board of Trustees, an effort to curb the "appearance of partisanship during the volatile weeks preceding the election.”

This policy has resulted in the denial of speakers such as Senator Hillary Clinton and conservative pundit Bay Buchanan as well as many more. Saint Catherine students denounce the administration's censorship of politics its adherence to mainstream political parties. In a letter to the college's administration Saint Catherine students state:

"Many students at St. Kate’s and elsewhere would challenge the idea that they fall into either of the dominant political parties. Do we then need to invite an equal number of Socialist, Green, and Independent party members to campus as well? And what of the anarchists? It is quite evident that a path of “neutrality” is, in actuality, more difficult to negotiate than a path of political engagement."

The students "hope to re-establish the image of St. Kate's as a college of socially and political engaged women seeking to lead and influence."

Please join them on Monday 10/27 in protest to protect free speech and the purpose of higher education: the exchange of ideas.

A letter to the administration, forwarded to local and national press press:
http://www.petitiononline.com/stkates/petition.html