Colonnade

Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Claire Kersey John Lawler, top, faces off against traveling preacher Brother Jed Smock on Front Campus on Wednesday. Students joined together in debating theology, quoting Bible verses and arguing with the evangelist.

Media Credit: Claire Kersey

Voices raised in Biblical backtalk echoed across Front Campus this past Wednesday as Brother Jed Smock, a traveling preacher from Columbia, Mo., made a stop at GCSU to spread the word about Jesus Christ and to rail against the college lifestyle.

Smock, like many other evangelists who make the rounds at colleges nationwide, chose to shout the word as loud as he could, and several students decided to shout back, including sophomore Khaliah Shaw.

"This is crazy," Shaw said. "(God) will love you no matter what."

She argued vehemently against his opinions, and she and several others formed a human wall, obstructing Smock from his audience and denouncing him as a false prophet.

"He's a lunatic, I think it's just a gimmick," freshman Jordan Bavis said. "He just wants to make everyone angry."

With such strong language being spewed left and right, people responded with anger. A few students exploded into rage at Smock's interpretation of Christianity. Pages of well-read Bibles rustled as they scrambled to find the verses to counter Smock's condemnations of lesbians, hypocrites, partiers, liars and others who did not practice as he did.

"What he was preaching about is half-true. The Gospel says that God loves us so much he died on the cross for our sins. But he forgives sinners and we are his objects of glory, not shame, by turning from our sin," senior John Lawler said.

Things escalated throughout the day as students voiced their opinions of Brother Jed.

"He's insane. He's a hypocrite and I absolutely do not think he is completely sin free," freshman Drew Norby said.

Students gathered around the Front Campus flagpole to take note of his verses and vitriol. The crowd grew throughout the day, and eventually barriers were placed between the students and Smock. Small groups camped out alongside the crowd and watched with intrigue at the spectacle before them.

"People create their own barriers," junior Patricia Frederickson said.

Others felt that the crowd gathering did not need to react so violently.

"Everyone has a right to walk away and not listen. I think people need to stop freaking out," senior Dani Pratt said.

The flagpole is GCSU's designated free speech zone. Anyone from outside the campus can reserve the space through Student Affairs and they are allowed to speak as long they do not disturb students in class or keep them from getting to where they need to go. The free speech zone is utilized a few times each semester for various events such as the Sept. 11 memorial, not just for preachers like Smock.



While students did not necessarily agree with Smock's views, they acknowledged his right to free speech.

"This is free speech, but I think he needs to respect others' free speech," freshman Jennifer Jensen said.

The campus free speech zone has moved from the clock near Chick-fil-A to its current location by the flagpole in the past few years. Dr. Bruce Harshbarger, vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students, acknowledges that there is a stigma surrounding the area.

"It creates the assumption that it's the only place you can speak freely," Harshbarger said. "I hope the whole campus can be a free speech zone."

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