SPJ/ONA DePaul presented its free speech wall project at the SPJ Region 5 conference in Chicago. After the presentation, we held a brainstorming meeting with other chapters that attended, including Indiana, Loyola, Butler and Eastern Kentucky.
Here are some of the ideas the chapters came up with as we plan to take the project to the regional and national level with other chapters next year:
- Hold your free speech wall not only on campus, but on a public sidewalk or park.
- Coordinate with all chapters participating by tweeting to the #fsw hashtag on Twitter as the event goes on. Tweet photos, what’s posted, short videos, etc.
- Have signs with details from landmark free speech court cases near the free speech wall area.
- Hold it both indoors and outdoors on your campus.
- Coordinate a multi-school free speech wall in your area (DePaul and Loyola are doing this) and then present findings to local media/professional SPJ chapter.
- Partner with a local pro chapter and do it in public and on campus.
- In Chicago, you could post a free speech wall in the performers section on a CTA subway line.
- Have an online component — post to Twitter or a message board — and see if people say different things online as opposed to writing on the wall.
- Tie the free speech wall project in with a First Amendment Free Food Festival on your campus.
- Bring more snacks as you’ll run out quickly!
DePaul University Society of Professional Journalists 