Tuesday, August 15, 2017 – True, This ! The pen is mightier than the sword. Maroon Wall Event Cancelled

True, This! — Beneath the rule of men entirely great The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold The arch-enchanters wand! — itself is nothing! — But taking sorcery from the master-hand To paralyse the Cæsars, and to strike The loud earth breathless! — Take away the sword — States can be saved without it!

The sentence (if not the idea, which had been expressed in various earlier forms) was coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy.

The Maroon Wall event scheduled for 9/11 on the campus at Texas A&M is cancelled. The white nationalist group will not be coming to College Station and staging a protest in Rudder Plaza. Not legally anyway. This could set very interesting legal precedents regarding First Amendment Rights and public institutions. We shall see.

For those unfamiliar with the A&M campus, Rudder Plaza is outdoors. It is sits in the shadows of Rudder Tower and the Memorial Student Center (MSC) in the center of campus. Note: the MSC honors the memory of brave men and women who fought to defend freedoms from these types of hate groups.

The plaza was the only place the white nationalist group could be. After December’s visit from the white nationalists, the administration inserted language in their speaker policies that a campus organization must issue and invitation in order for the event to be held indoors. No EVITE was sent from any of the 1200 organizations.

So the protestors took to the outdoors – Rudder Plaza. Rudder Plaza is the gateway to interior campus. The protest was to be held during school hours from 9:00 am to 4:00ish. Since December 2016, A&M speaker policies prohibits outdoor activities and protests that may disrupt daily activities and/or cause danger to students, faculty,, staff and public. Therefore, Rudder Plaza was no longer available.

I have no idea what Preston Wiginton and the others’ next move will be. But the Aggies will be standing by with pens.

Oh yes, one more thing. The Fighting Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets, Aggies whose uniforms can include swords, usually run through campus streets and through campus in the afternoons. It would be dangerous if a large group does not get out of the way.