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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Fall 2009)

How to Organize a Liberty Tree Initiative Program

Here are a few tips from hosts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., on how to organize a successful Liberty Tree Initiative program on campus.

1. Get students involved. Students know what First Amendment issues interest them, which helps make the topics for panel discussions and other events more provocative. A student organization at UNC came up with the idea for a reading of banned children’s books, which turned out to be the program’s best event.

2. Get other departments involved. Solicit ideas from other campus groups and encourage them to organize events. Help can come from a variety of sources, including the university library, academic and student associations and the campus bookstore. All are strong enthusiasts of the freedom of speech.

3. Establish partnerships. Winthrop’s mass communication department partnered with the John C. West Forum on Politics and Policy — the university’s civic engagement initiative — to coordinate activities. The collaboration helped the department obtain an additional $2,000 from the Charlotte Area Educational Association to add to its $5,000 Liberty Tree grant award.

4. Use social networks. Twitter and Facebook are effective tools in posting events and encouraging involvement. Winthrop has a Liberty Tree Initiative page on Facebook.

5. Make T-shirts. They’re great advertising, and if they have a good design can be sold at cost. The T-shirts at UNC were designed by a graduate student and created great buzz.

6. Relax. Six weeks is plenty of time to plan an event. Don’t plan for more than your resources allow. Celebrating the First Amendment should be fun and not stressful.

Note: If you are holding a “Freedom Sings” campus event, here’s an ad you can download and use.

Download Grant Application