Hands On: BVU Students’ First Amendment Rights: “Speech”

Lena Gripp, Staff Writer

Nov. 4-10 was Diversity and Inclusion Week, and BVU wanted to bring awareness to this.  The 2018 theme was “All In.”  The week’s events included conversations, presentations, comedian, a luncheon, a t-shirt give away during Saturday’s football game, training sessions, and panels discussing spirituality, sexuality, and culture.  BVU has a campus full of diverse people of different races, ethnicities, sexualities, genders, and more. 

BVU’s Student Activities Board hosted a show by comedian, Jake Rush.  Rush bases a lot of his act around his struggles with Asperger Syndrome.  Through humor, he has found a way to explain and show others what it is like living with this condition.  He spoke about how having Asperger’s impacts day-to-day life activities, like school, college, friends, and relationships, and how it impacts his conversational skills. 

SAB VP of Marketing Sarah Mueller claims, “It’s rewarding to be able to bring people to campus who can spread awareness about current topics that impact the world we live in; BVU and beyond.” 

The First Amendment protects the right to free speech and allows acts such as Jake Rush to come to audiences and speak, while also bringing entertainment to students.  Diversity and Inclusion week is a great representation of the BVU community using their freedom of speech to celebrate their roots and unique qualities.