At approximately $36 per character, tweeting about the First Amendment could help students earn a $5,000 scholarship.
“One American in 25 cannot say what the First Amendment actually says, and that poses a threat to our core freedoms,” said Ken Paulson, president and CEO of the First Amendment Center.
The FAC has created a $5,000 scholarship to highlight the importance of each aspect of the First Amendment, as well as the use of web-based social media.
“Last week in India for example, a woman was arrested for ‘liking’ something on Facebook,” Paulson said. “In China, someone was arrested for tweeting a joke about an upcoming election, and in Egypt, seven people were sentenced to death for making the film, ‘Innocence of Muslims.’”
Paulson explained the five parts of the First Amendment as the right to say what you want, write about injustices, worship any god and march or petition the government.
This collectively gives the people the power to both monitor and fix the nation, Paulson said.
Paulson said most people would not be able to explain what the First Amendment actually says.
Provost Kolde, a junior telecommunications major, was sitting with a group of friends when they were asked what the First Amendment meant to them.
“Which one is the First Amendment again?” Kolde asked.
“It keeps us from being one of those countries where people will say something, then they just disappear,” said Diana Starks, a senior telecommunications major. “Because you use it every day, we don’t value it as much as we should, you just take it for granted.”
The First Amendment Center has created the Free To Tweet Scholarship to inform students of their First Amendment rights, as well as engage those who use social media daily to think about the freedoms they are practicing.
“Research shows that young people who make use of social media place more importance on the First Amendment,” Paulson said.
The contest began Friday, and anyone above the age of 14 will be able to tweet with the hashtag #FreeToTweet explaining why they value a certain aspect of the First Amendment or why those rights are important to them.
Paulson said using a social media outlet such as Twitter was a perfect fit for the project, because it is a resource most people choose to express their feelings and thoughts.
Last year’s event had 17,000 entries in one day, which is why Paulson and the First Amendment Center decided to elongate the event to end on Dec. 15 to allow more to respond.
Dec. 15 is the anniversary of the creation of the Bill of Rights.
“It is sort of hard to imagine a life where I cannot express what I think after living in America my whole life,” said Chyna Spencer, a freshman psychology major. “Sure I’m going to tweet, because I would like $5,000.”
