No More Political E-mails

In September 23rd news, students at Grambling State University are now denied basic 1st Amendment Rights. More specifically, Grambling's president Frank Pogue e-mailed all students prohibiting political expression through its university e-mail system. GSU's justification? Because the university has an e-mail policy that forbids usage of university e-mail for spreading hate, inciting violence, and among other things, political beliefs.
I find it puzzling that malicious intentions like "spreading hate" and "inciting violence" get lumped together with expressing political beliefs. I can agree that freedom of speech doesn't extend to promoting violence, but having political opinion is a fundamental 1st Amendment right. If there's an election coming up, why shouldn't students be allowed to have an intelligent conversation about it?
As Marjorie Esman, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana said, "'Grambling students have the right to make political statements, including those in support of political candidates.'"
I try to play devil's advocate, but it's hard to come up with a good reason for why students should be denied such a basic First Amendment right. It's not like these students are history professors or professional political analysts. Having a political opinion does not jeopardize the integrity of anything. Plus, these college students are already adults. They're at GSU to learn; why shouldn't they be allowed to express their political beliefs? In fact, they should be encouraged to share their political beliefs and to take an active role.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education called on GSU to revise their restrictive policy on freedom of speech. Hopefully GSU realizes what the right thing to do is.

SL