In 2017, an incident occurred at University of California, Berkeley, where a guest commentator was met with the university's resistance towards holding the event. This sparked outrage nationally and urged States like Tennessee, Arizona, Illinois, and Colorado to support a bill that urged institutions to remain neutral on government issues, and refrain from inhibiting speech on campus. The bill also proposed a disciplinary measure for students or counter-demonstrators who met protesters with violence. Critics said this bill would hinder the University's ability to regulate, and therefore it was never passed. 

Knowing the previous circumstance surrounding this topic and how they echo through today's issue concerning student-led protests and the unfair repercussions faced by participants, It is time to reintroduce this bill back into Congress and pass it as legislation in private and public institutions. 

The current crisis with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has gained the attention of the world, specifically the younger generation. Since Late 2023, protests at institutions like Columbia, USC, UMD, UCLA, and many more have been met with sheer brutality and mass arrests. Many have relied on the precedent issue, Kent State University and their protests against the Vietnam War as a comparison to the current state of college students, their opinions against Israeli funding, and the reproach they experience. 

Looking into our future, the number of people going to college are set to increase as the professional job outlook increases. Therefore, these issues will continue to affect future generations if the situation isn't corrected now. The best solution is to urge the reintroduction in today's current Congress. If the government can restrict this right of ours, imagine other rights they will continue to take away. These restrictions only lead to inevitable tyranny as Benjamin Franklin stated in this famous quote: "Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and a tyranny is erected on its ruins." 

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The link to our latest issue: UNMUTED issue