During the first week of classes at Miami University, students expected new additions to campus such as the Farmer School of Business and the new time schedule of classes.
However, Miami had a surprise visitor last week on the street corner in front of the Shriver Center - a man identified as Brother Rick preaching his thoughts and beliefs in verse and song.
With this unusual presence in front of the Shriver Center, Miami University police attended the scene to maintain order between the speaker the crowd.
Due to the designated free speech areas across Miami's campus, Brother Rick was not taken into custody, nor charged with any crime for his statements concerning religion, sexual orientation and race.
According to Robin Parker, general counsel for Miami, Brother Rick could not have been apprehended due to the designated areas on campus where anyone can practice their right to free speech.
"It was my understanding that the man was speaking from the steps in front of Shriver and that the Miami police were patrolling and handling the situation by letting the speaker know his rights to the First Amendment and his freedom of speech while also securing the area," Parker said.
No legal action has been taken after the speaker's two visits. He has not made a third appearance on campus, and junior Jessica Stein described Brother Rick's presence as interesting and memorable since she could recite the lyrics to some of the song he chanted.
"He was singing to the tune of 'Born in the U.S.A.' but he was singing 'I wasn't born in the U.S.A. ... and these rednecks don't know I'm great,'" Stein said.
Junior Aly Goldman said the situation was uncomfortable and unusual, one that she had never experienced before.
"It was a very weird situation, definitely not something I'm used to," Goldman said. "The preacher was not well received due to his presumptions covering various topics such as the after-life, religion, race, and sexuality."
According to Goldman, he expressed strong feelings against some races and minorities.
"He was singing some song about not being American, and he said some pretty racist stuff, and it was ridiculous and
everyone was just yelling back at him," Goldman said. "Some people were just calling him an idiot, some people were kind of playing with him, and he was really into it."
According to sophomore Alex Davis, some audience members either highly disagreed or were nodding along in acceptance to the preachers address.
According to Lt. Ben Spilman of Miami University Police, one bystander decided to take matters into his own hands and poured water on the speaker.
"Apparently someone in the audience or passing through had poured water on him and he called the police to report that," Spilman said. "Officers did respond for that situation and as I understand it … he did not wish for there to be a police report, nor for any action to be taken."
According to Goldman, Brother Rick was using his freedom of speech in a way that was irresponsible and disrespectful.
"You know there's freedom to speech, and there's being ridiculous and maybe even drunk, in front of a bunch of college kids yelling at them and preaching your beliefs," Goldman said. "It just wasn't appropriate at all."
