Hey, Tim Tai videographer here. I was there. As an independent journalist on the ground, the problem I am seeing at MU pretty consistently is that students are having trouble understanding their First Amendment rights due to the actions of the administration. Let me explain.

During my encounter at the Concerned Student site I counted four or five instances of people threatening to call the police on Tai and me. I didn’t stick around long enough to see if they did follow through on it, but if they did, I know what would happen.

In May 4, 2015, I filmed a confrontation between campus police and a lawful street preacher on a public area just one block from where Concerned Student would later set up their encampment.

The police gave the man the choice of either to leave, produce an ID, or be arrested. After five minutes of unfruitful back and forth where the preacher defended his First Amendment right to be there, he finally produced an ID for them to check.

On November 10, 2015, one day after the media rights showdown, MU Police Department sent out the following email.

Were it not for the film, I would be arrested and it would be me facing disciplinary action, not Basler and Click.

The Office of Student Conduct uses its extrajudicial powers and limited transparency to punish speech they don’t agree with. In October a student was “moved” from the University pending an investigation because he said the n-word to a group of black students. In November a student was investigated for a Tweet comparing Jonathan Butler’s hunger strike with natural selection.

Students learn by example. In November a street preacher was attacked by a student when expressing his views about Michael Brown. Meanwhile Butler allegedly tossed a student political group off a public area on campus because he believed they didn’t have the right to occupy the same space as his group. Another group, MU College Republicans was repeatedly shoved out of a Planned Parenthood rally by students.

It doesn’t take the government smashing printing printing presses to curb free speech. Just the threat of reprisals will stop speech dead. And when students see administration doing it, they assume that behavior is acceptable.

When you see students inhibiting free speech and dialogue, first look to the administration. You’ll often find them acting just the same.