FEST SMOKED OUT - HEMPFEST CANCELLATION UNFAIR

Citing university procedure violations by Students for Sensible Drug
Policy, Ohio State decided Tuesday to cancel Hempfest, an event that has
run annually since 1996. The noon-to-midnight festival was scheduled to run
this weekend, but Pat Hall, director of student affairs, said Students for
Sensible Drug Policy, the event's sponsor, committed the following
infractions: It did not have written permission from its faculty adviser,
and it failed to give OSU 10 days' notice when filing for its space.

Hall said the group had to comply with the two stipulations because
students smoked pot at an event it hosted in November. The organization had
their request for space on the South Oval approved in April, but Rich
Hollingsworth, associate vice president of student affairs, said that
"reserving space does not equal permission to hold an event," according to
local media.

The first university mishandling of the situation might have been that Hall
sent the letter specifying these two requirements to a student who no
longer was the president, the sponsor's leadership said. But there are
larger issues to the story.

The big picture is that this is the latest event in a string of last-minute
rash decisions made by OSU regarding big events on campus. Last month, the
Big Free Concert became a debacle when the Ohio Union Activities Board
changed its date and location the week of the performance, inconveniencing
students and trashing tradition to a point of guaranteeing the concert's
failure.

It is also reminiscent of the fiasco in 2002 in which OSU pulled out ads
for Dockside Dolls gentlemen's club from thousands of faculty and staff
directories. Dockside Dolls said it went through the proper channels and
the ads had been approved, but the ads were removed literally by hand at
the zero hour when the directories were set to ship. The club directed
accusations of censorship at the university and was refunded $8,000.

Hollingsworth said the Hempfest cancellation is not about the event, but
"compliance with the directives of the Office of Judicial Affairs." He also
said that the group could reschedule the event, although "that would be a
little hard to do with the school year ending."

The bottom line is the university violated the rights of Students for
Sensible Drug Policy and especially those of the bands, speakers, vendors
and student groups set to attend. The event's organizers do not encourage
the use of illegal substances, although it is possible some people might
bring them to the event. And despite the possible presence of pot at
Hempfest, Hollingsorth and Hall both said they did not remember having any
trouble at the event in previous years. Plus, the money the attendees spent
to be featured here and the earnings they counted on cannot be made up. OSU
needs to start realizing the deep level on which its eleventh-hour panic
attacks can affect thousands of crimeless students.