UNH Employees Cannot Appropriate University Resources to Express Partisan Political Views - Granite Grok

UNH Employees Cannot Appropriate University Resources to Express Partisan Political Views

UNH CampusThe New Hampshire, the UNH system student newspaper, is reporting on a dust-up over some posters displayed on a wall at the Memorial Union Building (MUB). The ‘We the people’ posters were placed by an employee without MUB management approval. While the article focuses on the various reactions to them going up and coming down, the unrecognized gem in this piece is this (emphasis mine).

[su_quote]“The ‘We the People’ posters were hung in the Memorial Union Building by an employee. While artwork posted in public spaces and meeting rooms in the MUB is done at the discretion of the building’s management team, UNH is a public university and employees cannot appropriate university resources to express partisan political views,” Mantz said.[/su_quote]

Erika Mantz is the UNH director of media relations, and inquiring minds would like to know if she believes what she just said?

A large number of faculty, staff, and administrators “appropriate university resources” on a daily basis to express a partisan political view. They’re called classrooms, lecture halls, you can find entire departments and curriculum at UNH built on the foundation of a partisan political agenda to integrate partisan political ideas into the collective consciousness of students. You can even get a degree in these areas of study.

But it is refreshing to hear those words, and you can bet I’ll be dusting them off every time someone associated with UNH appears to have appropriate university resources to express a partisan political view.

Erika has done us a great service, and for that we thank her.

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