Be Engaged

1. Utilize your Resources - through the Student Leadership and Involvement Center (SLIC) toolbox on planning events and reserving spaces.
2. Understand Time, Place, & Manner - make sure you understand Time, Place & Manner Policy expectations.
3. Develop a Plan - meet with your student org Advisor and/or Student Life Advisor to ensure you have thought through format, location, speakers, and logistics to have a safe and successful event.
4. Review Policies - Make sure you and your organization members understand all of the campus policies and procedures that govern student organizations  and individual students.
5. Prepare for Support Resources - free speech related events and demonstrations can be emotionally charged. It’s important to think about support resources to have available for students such as Counselors, Advisors, and follow-up resources.
6. Have Next Steps - while demonstrations and single events can be beneficial, you want to think about longer time change. Are there next steps that you have to continue success and build momentum?

1. Utilize your Resources & Understand Time, Place, & Manner - before holding a demonstration, start by reading the Time, Place & Manner Policy.
2. Develop a Plan - to ensure you have thought through format, location, speakers, and logistics to have a safe and successful event. Consider consulting with a faculty or staff member who can support you in your plan development. Should you want to consult, please reach out to the Office of Student Conduct, Rights & Responsibilities.
3. Review Policies - Make sure you understand all of the campus policies and procedures that govern student conduct.
4. Prepare for Support Resources - free speech related events and demonstrations can be emotionally charged. It’s important to think about support resources to have available for students such as Counselors, Advisors, and follow-up resources.
5. Have Next Steps - while demonstrations and single events can be beneficial, you want to think about longer time change. Are there next steps that you have to continue success and build momentum?

• Social Media - Start talking about what's happening and begin to build support and discussion around your ideas and/or opposition to the proposed event.
• The Pioneer - The student run newspaper is an excellent option to possibly write a story about the issue to draw attention.
• Student Organizations - Review a list of student organizations on BaySync and reach out to those organizations you believe would have an interest in the topic. Having many groups with one voice strengthens your position and can lead to greater influence around the important topic.If you’re part of a student org, reach out to Student Life & Leadership staff for preparing for any events.
• ASI - Consider contacting your ASI Board of Directors and Senators to encourage a representative to write a resolution in support of your position or in opposition to the issue you disagree. You may also want to consider scheduling time with one of your ASI elected leaders.
• Petitions - Start a petition to send to your ASI, state, local and/or federal officials to communicate the vast support that exists for your position.
• Teach-in - Organize a teach-in using the expertise of our own faculty or other key individuals you may know to create an informal lecture or discussion around the important topic.
• Schedule a Meeting - Determine who from the university is the best person to address and/or express your concerns and schedule a meeting with this individual.
• Support - Review the type of event and think through what type of proactive steps can be taken to support East Bay students. Some considerations: should signs and flyers be made in advance? should there be emotional support professionals present to assist students? do you need to purchase supplies? are there safety concerns? are you aware of any policies or laws for your consideration? You can contact the Office of Student Conduct, Rights & Responsibilities for support.

• Counter-demonstration - Organize a demonstration to illustrate your opposition to the point of view being presented by the other group.
• Leave - A very powerful tool to send a message of opposition is to deny a speaker and/or event your attendance. Controversial speakers are usually trained to provoke their audience and if the audience does not exist it creates a challenging situation for the speaker and/or organizers to create the dissection they desire. 
• Stand Up and Turn Around - Another option is to force the speaker to speak to your back. Most speakers need to feed off the audience and the controversy they create. By turning your back you remain present but still send a message of opposition. This can only be done if you are not obstructing the view of other attendees who want to see the speaker.
• Tape Your Mouth - Another effective message you can send at an event is to place tape over your mouth to indicate you have been silenced. This can also mean you are sending a message that you oppose the view but are demonstrating your peaceful resistance to the message.
• T-Shirts - Create t-shirts to send a message and create a community of solidarity around the issue they support or disagree with.
• Picket-Signs - make picket signs with powerful messages that share your voice.
• Social Media - There are many social media platforms available to communicate your message for or against a particular cause/event/speaker.
• More Speech - You can counter hate speech or other speech with more free speech, better speech, and with more accurate speech. Use your right to free expression to condemn hate speech and other ignorant speech.
• Sing/Chant - Another aspect of more speech to be expressive could be a song or chant. What you need to be aware of is that you cannot “drown out” a presenter at an event causing an event to no longer be accessible to those who want to attend it; however, standing outside as a counter protest would be acceptable.

It’s important to remember that there are some campus policies and laws that protests and civil disobedience cannot disrupt the regular flow of university business. While most speech is protected, the university has certain regulations to follow, which can be found within the Time, Place, and Manner Policy.

For example, the exercise of free speech and assembly rights shall NOT:

• Interfere with class instruction or other scheduled academic, educational, or cultural/arts program or with the use of the University Library;
• Disrupt university staff or officials while they are fulfilling their university responsibilities;
• Block attendees from entering or exiting an event;
• Obstruct pedestrian or vehicular traffic, or otherwise endanger persons or property;
• Permit you to touch or spit on a speaker;
• Employ sound amplification or create noise that disrupts university activities or interferes with the exercise of free speech by others (see policies around amplified sound);
• Be conducted in or on campus parking lots, parking structures, driveways, crosswalks, streets, roadways, and paths of pedestrian travel;
• Harass, intimidate, threaten, or impede the movement of persons'
• Allow you to occupy an office or other non-public space;
• Create or cause unsafe congestion around stairs and escalators.

Civil disobedience is the active refusal to comply with certain laws as a form of protest. It’s important to research your rights prior to engaging in civil disobedience to ensure you understand the potential consequences you could face. 

Dissent becomes unprotected civil disobedience when taking over a campus building, materially disrupting classes or events, trespassing, vandalizing, disturbing the peace, or other types of conduct subject to Time, Place, and Manner Policy. Civil disobedience could potentially result in criminal or student conduct charges.