Students speaking at the Speak Out OSU event on Monday night at Gill Coliseum opened up to the Corvallis community about their grievances relating to the victim mentality that has been promoted by President Obama and his liberal friends. Things got heated when a white person tried to speak out at this event. The event organizers quickly suppressed his First Amendment Rights and claimed that only people of color would be allowed to speak. Throughout the nearly two-hour event, students of color addressed issues relating to institutional racism. Student complaints of racism were mostly addressed to University professors.

The fact that white people weren’t allowed to express their opinions could be viewed as a turnoff for white people in supporting their cause. In what could’ve been an open and substantive discussion, it ended up turning into a long list of grievances. While the outspoken students should be commended for expressing their first amendment rights, their movement will not likely get the support of the majority white community who may view their grievances as over dramatic and whinny. Thus, Speak Out OSU lost a big opportunity to open up the discussion to the larger community by suppressing the rights for white people to speak. Speak Out OSU should’ve represented students under the color of Orange and Black, not just on race.