Simpson College held weeklong celebration of the First Amendment last week, celebrating the First Amendment of the United States Constitution awarding freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Events ranged from speaking on athletics and advocacy titled “Shut Up and Play”, a Constitution Day lecture, and debate on Hate Speech and Simpson College were all held. Simpson Professor Brian Steffen tells KNIA News one of the main themes he wanted to get across during First Amendment Week was the power of that right.

“I want at Simpson, when people graduate, to say one of the most important things they learned was that there are certain basic civil freedoms that we can not only express, but we have to respect others rights. That is one of our big problems in democracy today, we don’t respect the rights of others, we always want to win. That is not what a democracy is all about.”

Steffen also said there are a lot of students who are active in politics and campaigning for the upcoming election, and having this discourse is important in today’s world.