On Saturday, Sept. 17 the nation celebrated Constitution Day, the day when the U.S. Constitution was ratified.

Of course the 1st Amendment is very precious to this staff and the newspaper we present to our VSU campus. Without the freedom of speech and freedom of press, the news we report could be filtered or just plain propaganda. In either case, the community would be prevented from learning the truth about our university.

We surveyed a group of our mass communication students and here is what they had to say about what the “freedom of speech” means to them:

“It gives me, as well as others, the right to share ideas and give information freely and that is why it is important,” Tyree Baker said.

“For me ‘freedom of speech’ means having the right to voice your opinion and express yourself freely. Not allowing others to suppress what you have to say even though it may not be accepted or understood,” Treasure Harris said.

“It means there are no restrictions on what I say or post,” Anamaria Smoleac said.

“In my opinion ‘freedom of speech’ means the right to have a voice. You can use your voice to express yourself without fear, as well as saying your beliefs and ideas freely,” Jocelyn Burgess said.

“‘Freedom of speech’ to me is supposed to mean that I am free to exercise my right to speak freely, say what I want, when I want, and not get punished for it,” Aanya Howard said.

“Freedom of speech means being able to share my message and opinion freely, without fear of being persecuted or harmed, and being able to listen to and retain someone else’s message free of punishment. All of this within ethical reasoning though,” Taylor McCoy said.