College is known for being the place to actively practice the right to freedom of speech. But how are we as a college campus supposed to express our free speech rights with absurdly strict regulations on putting up posters and flyers?

According to the ULV Posting Policy, the first sentence clearly states that all flyers and posters must be posted by an Office of Student Life staff member.

Second, it states that the Office of Student Life must approve posters and this service is provided as an effort to maintain high standard on the campus. Finally, posters and flyers intended to be put up in the residence halls have to be approved by housing, as well.

Honestly, a college campus does not need to look prim and proper at all times. It needs to look like and be a place where students have an active voice. It needs to look like students actually live here, and the ability to post signs, posters and the like contributes to that.

Many complain that school spirit and involvement in campus activities are at an all-time low. This is funny, because as you walk through campus there are only 35 approved places to post a single 11” x 17” poster.

Which equals 35 posters for a single event across campus.

Now 35 may seem like a lot, but when these designated posting boards are the size of a chalkboard in an elementary school classroom, and are scattered across campus in some of the most obscure and seldom-visited nooks and crannies, they become hardly visible.

Does an 11” x 17” piece of paper really grab your attention instantly? Or does an actual “poster” in bright colors grab your attention?

Last year posters could be seen throughout campus and they were an everyday reminder that things were actually going on here; what was wrong with that? Now our campus looks dead. And to think some people wonder why the turn out for ASULV elections was so low.

At Cal Poly Pomona, the first thing stated in their posting policy that it supports free expression.

That’s regardless of whether or not faculty or staff of the campus feel the event or information adheres to the University mission. Such a posting policy is a sign that a university tolerates various points of view and respects the rights of all to express themselves.

If our University, in theory, respects students’ freedom of expression – and we believe it does, in theory – then why are the rights and points of view of students at ULV overruled by some asinine posting policy?

This policy was constructed by Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Director of Student Life Chip West and Associate Director of Student Life Barbara Mulligan.

The policy was not approved by the student body, ASULV, CAB or any student-run organization.

It is high time for a revision of this policy, and for the administration of ULV to step back and allow the students that make up this campus to have a voice.

College is a time for young adults to express themselves. We should have the the right to post flyers and posters without pre-approval or having to jump through dozens of unnecessary bureaucratic hoops.