&gt; You don&#x27;t get these freedoms as a student.<p>Exactly. As soon as money enters the picture, all civil liberties tends to be thrown out. Yet, students should IMHO be <i>encouraged</i> to exercise their freedom of speech and assembly. How do you teach a society democracy if not through activities like this?<p>And this is reflected in the low voter turnout.<p>&gt; I actually do think that the American civil liberties are quite strong. I can go protest in front of a government building with an ISIS flag with no (legal) repercussions if I want to.<p>Using this as an example of &quot;strong&quot; freedom is so sad. Really. That should be a basic requirement for any civilized society. Yet, as another poster mentioned, it&#x27;s probably not even true.