That shift in the student union after they banned the chalk slogans

Back in 2019, the quad at my campus was covered in chalk messages every morning. Political stuff, club announcements, even some pretty bad puns. Then the administration decided chalk was a free speech issue after some group wrote something borderline threatening. By spring 2020, they banned it entirely and said all expression had to go through an approval process. Now the quad is just clean concrete and silence. I walked through there last month and counted maybe three people total having a conversation outside. The energy just died. Has anyone else's campus lost that spontaneous feel after they cracked down on something small like chalk?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_eva4d ago

My friend went to a school where they banned those little chalk drawings outside the student center. Someone drew a smiley face with a mustache and the admin called it "unapproved visual communication." I mean, seriously? After that, people stopped even putting up flyers cause they figured nothing would get through. She said the whole vibe shifted to this weird quiet. Nobody hung out in the courtyard anymore, just walked through with their heads down. The school basically killed any chance of random fun with a single rule.

hannaht293d ago

And then they wonder why nobody wants to participate in school stuff anymore.