CSUN Open Forum Area Inaugurated

A new open forum area was inaugurated on the campus of Cal State Northridge Wednesday, setting aside a specific place for students to take the lectern, attract a crowd and speak out.

“Demonstration is healthy and speaking one’s mind is healthy,” said Ronald Kopita, CSUN’s vice president of student affairs. “And if that can’t be done on a university campus, where can it be done?”

The open forum podium is situated in the center of the Sierra Quad, south of the Oviatt Library. The idea for a designated area has been with the Associated Students Senate since 1993.

The original free speech area was near the Matador bookstore, but was eliminated when the bookstore expanded a few years ago. For years, the Oviatt lawn had been a place where students congregated to protest.

The new area is set back from the library to allow commencement ceremonies, and also so that high-profile campus guests may speak on the lawn without conflicting with protesters, AS officials said.

The first open debate staged on the podium Wednesday was a discussion on controversial Proposition 209. But unlike the angry demonstrations that marked the gathering outside the recent debate between former klansman David Duke and civil rights activist Joe Hicks, the mood at the open forum discussion was one of respect.

Two professors took the lectern to outline their reasons for supporting Proposition 209 and four expressed their opposition. Afterward, several students voiced opinions.

Philosophy student Patricia Lathers, 26, stood at the lectern and delivered an anti-establishment poem.

She called the open forum area a “place we can come together and discuss things that are controversial or not controversial.”