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The Daily Tar Heel

Protest with a happy ending: Student group's tactic to address distasteful imagery is a 'score' for public dialogue

Students walking through the Pit last week might have noticed a cube painted by the men’s club ice hockey team. The cube advertised the team’s participation in a tournament and featured a drawing of a busty woman and the tag line, “Come watch us score.”

Members of Feminist Students United took offense to the cube. They painted another side of it, expressing their opinions about the derogatory nature of the hockey team’s advertisement.

The strategy the leaders of Feminist Students United used to deal with the advertisement they found offensive helped to turn those statements into constructive conversation.

It would have been really easy for members of Feminist Students United to sabotage the hockey advertisement by painting over it. Outrageous imagery doesn’t always evoke a measured response.

But by painting their own cube, Feminist Students United enhanced the debate in a meaningful way. Offensive messages are a voice against themselves.

Calling attention to it rather than covering it up allowed the community to have a thoughtful debate.
This is how protests should be done.

Painting over offensive messages, as is the practice with the NC State free expression tunnel, doesn’t make them go away. Messages need to be delivered to be discussed. An offensive message cannot discredit itself if it is censored.

It didn’t take long for the hockey team to apologize for the cube and offer to take steps to make up for it.
Events like this are why public forums exist.

Last week’s cube incident was a victory for the First Amendment.

It is encouraging to see students act in ways that show respect for and understanding of public debate.

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