Try the lsu ieee.
On 2/13/07, willhill <williamhill2 at cox.net> wrote: > > Commercial interests own this campus. I have tried without success for a > couple of weeks to set up a Free Speech Alley promotion of free software. > The paradoxical reason for denial was that LSU is "solicitation free" and > they don't want the Alley to be too crowded. The rules work very well to > reduce crowding and the tables in front of the LSU Union sit empty most > days. > I was threatened with a Police "escort" if I were to dare sit at one of > those > empty tables and hand out CDs. Obviously, Microsoft and other spammers > don't > have the same problem getting time, space and facilities on campus to > promote > themselves. > > The rules for non-free speech alley are simple but restrictive. You have > to > be a member of an approved campus organization or have special permission > to > set up. An individual can not just sit down and talk to people. A > commercial interest, it seems, can use a campus organization to promote > itself as was the case of the Microsoft promotion of the "One Note" > program > and Tigerware. An individual is just out of luck, unless they don't mind > being arrested as an intrepid Mary Kay sales lady was yesterday. The net > result is that individuals are squelched in favor of the most organized or > dedicated groups like Amnesty International, Microsoft and military > recruiters. That's hardly free. > > I petitioned all available channels for permission. Pat, at Union > Programs > laid out the rules for me and a friend who was also interested. We were > told > to petition a Vice Chancellor or to find a student group to sponsor us. I > did both. Mr. Monday was busy, and has yet to respond to email requests > or > to use the contact information we provided in a half hour long interview > with > his secretary. A Microsoft employee of the LSU ACM seemed helpful, but no > other interest within the ACM itself has been expressed so far. There no > longer is an LSU LUG and I can't think of another organization that would > be > more interested or willing to sponsor me. The game is not over, but I'm > starting to get tired of it. > > The ease with which Microsoft uses campus facilities and communications > channels to advertise themselves is disgusting. They are able to promote > themselves at specail events like the following quoted, Free Speech Alley > and > LSU's PAWS email system, which you can visit for yourself at paws.lsu.edu. > There you will learn about "Free classes in Microsoft Office and web > design > software that are designed to help you jumpSTART your career." and > "Special > Prices for Microsoft Software" everyday. The word "tool" comes to mind. > > I might just go waste my time at the commercial love fest advertised. It > would be fun to ask questions and report answers back here. > > ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- > > Subject: IT Expo and IT Commons Grand Opening > Date: Tuesday 13 February 2007 10:44 > From: "Broadcast Center" <broadcast at lsu.edu> > To: Broadcast_LSU_Community at gateway.lsu.edu > > Who: Student Government and Information Technology Services > > > > What: Grand Opening of IT Commons and IT Expo > > > > When: 8:00am starting at Middleton Library, guest speaker from the FBI > CyberCrimes Task Force at 8:30am in DODSON Auditorium, then back to > Middleton for more events! > > > > Why: To offer all-day workshops and booths showcasing what LSU IT has to > offer, not to mention the vendors that will be on hand such as > Microsoft, Dell, Apple, Lenovo and Cingular! > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > General at brlug.net > http://mail.brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/general_brlug.net/attachments/20070213/17f73ba1/attachment.html
