COLUMN: Express yourself

From Jason Brenner's "My 20 Inches," Fall '96 From Jason Brenner's "My 20 Inches," Fall '96As Thomas Emerson so eloquently says in The System of Freedom of Expression, "A majority of one has the right to control action, but a minority of one has the right to talk." The Emerson quote is an excerpt from a bulkpack reading for Professor Carolyn Marvin's Communications 322, History and Theory of Freedom of Expression. As a second-semester junior Communications major, I can't get into this class. Unfortunately, I wasn't definitively told about this until last Friday. In all fairness to Professor Marvin and the Annenberg School for Communication, I must add that I was never promised entry into the class. I knew there were no guarantees. But a few things make the bad taste in my mouth that much more bitter. I attended Professor Marvin's class last Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 a.m. (If making an 11 a.m. class on a Friday morning isn't dedication, I don't know what is!) I also wrote the three-page paper that was due on the second day of class -- perish the thought, making students do work during the first week -- and kept up with the bulkpack readings so I wouldn't seem like a moron in the small seminar. Nevertheless, on Friday after class, I was told I would be "locked out" of Communications 322, even though I was the only person not enrolled in the class still trying to get in. I think everyone else ran away when Professor Marvin mentioned the paper due on the second day of class. Neither Professor Marvin nor the Annenberg School would like the number of students in her class to exceed 25, so as not to inhibit class discussion. I understand. I realize that once you have 26 students, you're entering the realm of sheer chaos and suppressing the potential for open discussion. In fact, I've been told by various people that I'm practically a conversational vacuum. Really, though, is adding one more student -- especially one who's interested in the subject matter and willing to take the class seriously -- to a seminar going to detract that dramatically from the learning of the others? I could understand the school's rule if six or seven people wanted to join the class, but one? Maybe there's not enough oxygen in Annenberg 319 to accommodate 26 people. Will they let me in if I promise not to breathe? Maybe there's a weight limit in the room, kind of like elevators have. I could always go on a diet... What would Walter Annenberg think about this? After all the millions and millions of dollars he donated to the school named in his honor, the University of Pennsylvania can't fork over $30 to put another chair (it doesn't even have to be cushioned) in Room 319. I see no legitimate reason why a junior communications major cannot be squeezed into an upper-level class when he is the only one still trying to gain entry. I am now left without any courses in the Annenberg School this semester. Unfortunately, there are no "back doors" into Communications 322. While I've heard that other professors at the University will consider students for their already-full classes if the students demonstrate sufficient dedication to the subject matter, there seems to be no such recourse in my case. The "no's" I heard from the Annenberg School and Professor Marvin were rather firm. Instead of enjoying my senior year embarking on such quality academic ventures as Education 592, Concepts of Human Sexuality, I will now have to spend it completing major requirements. To complete my major, I need three more communications courses. With only two semesters left to take them, an outside possibility remains that I could be stuck in some introductory class as a second-semester senior. But believe it or not, there is a silver lining to this dark cloud of academic rejection. In my brief but memorable stint in Communications 322, I learned enough about freedom of expression to feel obligated to present my worthy opinion about the Annenberg School bureaucracy here on the pages of this fine specimen of journalistic excellence. I'm expressing my freedom of expression about a class called "Freedom of Expression." Perhaps Professor Marvin and the policies of the Annenberg School taught me a semester's worth of "Freedom of Expression" in just three classes. Maybe I'm ready for the final exam. On the other hand, I still don't know what the heck that Emerson quote means?

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.