OAKLAND UNIVERSITY QUASHES STUDENT SPEECH
Students Who Support Faculty Told To Take Down Signage
ROCHESTER, MICH. – An Oakland University freshman who posted a pro-faculty sign in her eighth-floor window was ordered Friday to take it down.
Michelle Poterek, 18, from Sterling Heights, created a hand-lettered sign that read: “An injury to one is an injury to all.” She said she supports the faculty in its ongoing contract dispute with the university administration.
“My R.A. said, ‘Michelle, you have to take down your sign.’ I asked why and she said she was told by her supervisor to tell me to remove it.
“There is no way they should be able to control what you think,” Poterek said. “That’s pretty scary when you are a freshman.”
OU student Laura White said she invited several resident assistants to Thursday’s student-faculty rally.
“They were told they couldn’t go to the rally and they were under the impression they would be fired if they did,” said White, a Trenton student planning to graduate in December.
“Later, they were told they could go to the rally but they couldn’t talk to any media and they couldn’t hold any signs,” White said.
“I told them they had a Constitutional right to express themselves,” White said.
