First freedoms -- the quiz

Yesterday, Chips Quinn orientation attendees were in for the First Amendment challenge of their lives. While students were told in advance to memorize the First Amendment, many determined the real instruction given was to memorize the five freedoms, and not the sentence verbatim. That was the first surprise.

Chipsters then had the honor of meeting Ken Paulson, USA TODAY's editor and a Mizzou grad, and John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center who has lectured at Mizzou several times. I have yet to determine which was better -- the information or the presenters. The presentation consisted of a game in which we students were divided into groups and asked questions. After we were given the chance to think, we were given the correct answer. Groans or cheers were followed by a short history on that answer. I must say, I had fun!

For many of us, this was a wake-up call.

I wanted to call my Communications Law teacher, Sandy Davidson, and thank her for all the information that was packed in her class. I was personally charged to re-examine every fact I learned about the Zinger case of 1735, Times v Sullivan, and one of her personal favorites, the 2 Live Crew case concerning copyright infringement ("Nasty as They Wanna Be"). In case it wasn’t implied well, the University of Missouri-Columbia has the greatest journalism school ever. M-I-Z…Z-O-U! Although I really let down a few professors with my game results today, I learned a valuable lesson: We do need to know this stuff (I mean very important material)!

-- Vannah Shaw, University of Missouri, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser