ANDERSON — As a mechatronics major, Purdue Polytechnic Anderson senior Jackson Vieth, 21, said he rarely encounters issues regarding freedom of speech the way someone studying in other fields such as social sciences or liberal arts might.
“In technology, it seems like everything is clear-cut, straightforward,” he said. “There isn’t a lot that’s up for debate when it comes to electronics. It either works or it doesn’t.”
But one class for his organizational leadership minor, became a little heated when a student said he disagreed with affirmative action.
“They felt like those people were getting jobs over people who were just as qualified or possibly making more money,” the Greenfield resident said.
While most of the other classmates disagreed with that sentiment, Vieth believes the professor was open to the discussion. Vieth said he tries to find the middle ground but tends to veer a little liberal.
“In class, the teacher was very good at navigating it. It wasn’t heated in the room, per se,” he said.
Vieth said he has not yet seen a survey on freedom of speech, but in his opinion, Purdue Polytechnic’s faculty and administration respect and even encourage the varying opinions of students.
That diversity of thought is critical in engineering fields to end up with the best results, he said.
“In engineering in general, you always need to be able to speak your mind. If you can’t every company would end up with the same set of ideas,” he said. “Men and women think very differently, and it’s valuable having different insight on different issues.”
Though there may not appear to be much inherently political about being an engineer or studying to become one, things may change once money is involved, Vieth said.
“Once you get into the management side of engineering, there is a lot of money moving around, and I imagine people would have a lot of ideas about how that money should be managed.”
The small size of the Purdue Polytechnic campus also tends to encourage constructive expression, Vieth said.
“Part of going to this school is it’s very small and can speak with your professors and speak your mind.”
Kyle Oxley, who already has earned one associates degree in surgical technology and is working on a second in dental hygiene at Ivy Tech Community College Anderson, said he may have the survey in his emails but hasn’t filled it out.
Oxley, 25, of Muncie, said he has not experienced issues regarding freedom of speech and feels free to discuss his needs and opinions with Ivy Tech faculty and administration. Like Vieth, he added that his chosen fields of study also don’t tend to generate much controversy.
“In fact at Ivy Tech, I’ve had very positive experiences with instructors and going out into clinical locations,” he said.
Though dental hygiene may not seem particularly political on the surface, Oxley said, recent events have shown that even the most unlikely topics could become so. For that reason, he believes maintaining student freedom of speech can be important.
“Freedom of speech is something that always needs to be protected and always need to be available,” he said. “When issues arise, change begins with new ideas, new opinions.”
The need for freedom of speech also may vary depending on whether the campus is a traditional residential campus where students live and interact more frequently or a commuter campus like Ivy Tech’s where students are around mostly for classes, said Oxley, who spent his first year of college at Ball State University.
“Once they kind of have you (on a residential campus), and you don’t have any rights, they can be in a situation where your empowerment, your voice can be very limited.”
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