Grand Valley State University’s College Democrats are encouraging students to exercise their First Amendment rights with Speak Up Week, a series of events and tabling activities intended to raise awareness about the importance of freedom of speech and expression in American society that will run today through Friday.

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Paul LeBlanc, president of the College Democrats at GVSU, said events and activities this week are geared toward promoting that idea of students right to speak up.

“Our members thought that free speech was an especially relevant topic for this spring, given the recent controversies over Wikileaks and the Westboro Baptist Church,” he said. “Our events and activities are intended to demonstrate the fragility of the right to free speech and the importance of extending to it to all citizens, regardless of the popularity of the particular views being expressed.”

With that in mind, the week will feature a lecture by political science professor Mark Richards about the limits of free speech in highly publicized cases such as those mentioned by LeBlanc.

The week will also feature an open mic night, in which LeBlanc said the group encourages students to share their thoughts through music, poetry, spoken word or any other medium of their choice in regards to current social and political issues. The group will also be tabling Tuesday through Thursday in AuSable hall with censorship-themed Jenga and blank slips of paper for students to write down their thoughts down on anonymously. After the week is over, the group will post them on display around campus.

LeBlanc said the group isn’t pushing any specific issues and instead want to focus on raising awareness about how ambiguous the right to free speech can be.

“We hope that our events will cause GVSU students to recognize the importance of the right to free speech and expression in our society,” LeBlanc said. “Furthermore, we hope that our activities will cause students to think critically about how our society regulates and limits free speech, and where those limitations should be.”

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Event info box:

Tabling in AuSable: Tuesday through Thursday

Open mic night: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Kirkhof’s Area 51.

Mark Richards lecture: Friday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Rooms 2215-2216 in the Kirkhof Center.