GAP should set up in Dunn Meadow

Dunn Meadow has long been the designated "free speech" area of campus, where numerous student groups have held festivals, forums and speeches and set up informational booths.\nNow, an off-campus group is challenging the University, accusing it of discrimination and unfairly infringing on its First Amendment rights because it was told Dunn Meadow was the only place it could demonstrate.\nStudents have accepted the fact that Dunn Meadow is the free speech forum on campus for years. The Genocide Awareness Project, a program from the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, should accept the policy as well.\nGAP wants to display 25 six-by-13-foot photo murals behind Woodburn Hall. In the Oct. 3 edition of the IDS, a spokesman from GAP said it wanted to set up its display behind Woodburn because it gets two and a half times the traffic that Dunn Meadow does. Any student who has walked behind Woodburn can do the math -- there would hardly be room for 25 of those murals, and all the students who need to walk through that area to get to class on time.\nCertainly, the University put a lot of thought into the policy declaring Dunn Meadow the official free speech area. The administration knows how crowded the area behind Woodburn Hall can be when students are coming to and from class. It knows how much room there is in Dunn Meadow. The University is offering GAP a large, grassy area where students can congregate comfortably without disrupting traffic on campus -- and that is perfectly fair.\nGAP has challenged the University because it has not had this much trouble at other universities, it said last week. Perhaps other universities don't have strict policies that exist to regulate where demonstrations and displays can take place. \nIn that article, a spokesman from GAP issued what sounded like a threat -- that the group will get its message out on campus, no matter what methods are necessary to do so. This apparently includes sending mass mailings to students and faculty and renting large trucks displaying pictures of aborted fetuses to drive through campus. But how are these methods more effective than simply setting up in Dunn Meadow?\nThe judge in the case has postponed his ruling until Dec. 1 in the hope that GAP and IU can work out their differences without a court decision. The two will meet to discuss the issue some time this week. Maybe, this time around, negotiations will go better -- the University will explain its "free speech area" policy, and GAP will accept it, as students did long ago.