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Written by: Libby Thoma | Staff Writer On many college campuses, a phenomenon that excludes Western, some preachers hold signs expressing hateful, sexist, racist, homophobic and other problematic words — backing their religious beliefs. These signs can include anything from anti-abortion harassment to informing those who are gay, masturbators, gossips and more that they are sinning and hell awaits them.  Protestors also loudly attest that judgment is coming and to repent. Additionally,  protestors wave signs saying that abortion is murder or a sin. This list goes on and on, commonly revolving around religion in one way or another.  These signs and the people holding them can be extremely hateful and disrespectful, and when confronted, they generally justify their rhetoric by citing that campuses allow freedom of speech. Although campuses do allow freedom of speech, these protests can often lead to people feeling unsafe and unwelcome, and there have been times when the university’s campus public safety has had to intervene to ensure everyone’s safety and push back against violence.  So, there are two arguments universities face: allowing freedom of speech — which means allowing hateful speech or stopping this type of protesting due to it being hurtful and uncomfortable for the students and faculty it targets.  The First Amendment of the Constitution allows freedom of speech no matter how offensive the speech is. However, the Constitution does not permit hate speech, libel or slander, although the parameters of hate speech are not specified. This does not extend to behavior or speech that is threatening, harassing or creates a hostile environment. This translates to universities as well; freedom of speech...

Written by: Hannah Field | News Editor Western was swept by an ice storm during the week of Jan. 8 — resulting in three classless days and one late start. While students might have relaxed or studied when class got canceled, especially due to the three-day weekend, Campus Safety remained on high alert. “Our biggest concerns were the unknown stuff,” said Associate Director of Campus Safety, Mike Hanson. “Are we going to have power outages? Where can we take students to have heat if we lose it? We were trying to plan ahead for what we didn’t know was coming up.” A few minor rescues were conducted during the ice storm, with car trouble being a common denominator. Campus Safety generally assists with anything and everything on campus, the only service offered 24/7 at Western. “I think we’re very lucky to be unscathed. We had a few slips and falls — we followed up with those folks — had a few pipes break, but those, ultimately, were pretty minor,” said Hanson. Past winter seasons haven’t been as forgiving. Years prior, a destructive ice storm downed trees and severed the power for different parts of the community. Campus Safety spent a month working on the damage, even calling in other crews to assist in the clean-up. Ice, unlike snow, cannot be easily removed or shoveled. It has to melt or break, leading to times when the best option is to wait patiently until temperatures rise.  “Mother nature leads us down — we have to gamble for what she leads us to,” Hanson said. According to Hanson, students behaved safely and...