By: Steve Thurston Advocate Advisor

On Thursday, as a celebration of Constitution Day, Montgomery College hosted our first annual First Amendment Quiz, and many, many of you participated, hoping to win the $50 gift certificate to the MC Bookstore. Thanks for participating!

We looked at all of the responses, graded them, and the people who answered four or five correctly had their responses put into a box. We chose one lucky winner randomly from the box. CONGRATULATIONS TO BRANDON CORBIN! Brandon got four of a possible five questions right (about a dozen of you did), and his name was pulled randomly from a box in the Advocate office! WAY TO GO!

We told everyone to look here in the Advocate for the full quiz and answers. Do you remember what you guessed? Well, this may remind you…

1: Which are the five rights protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution? Under the First Amendment, you have a right:

A: to choose your religion, to free speech, to free press, to meet with people, to complain to the government.

B: to religion, to free speech, to free press, to meet with people, to privacy.

C: to religion, to buy weapons, to privacy, to a fair trial, to avoid unnecessary searches and seizures.

D: It was a trick question; the First Amendment only protects FOUR rights.

2: On your Facebook page, where the whole world can read it, which of these is the most likely to get you sued?

A: My professor XGK is a butthead!

B: My friend’s professor XGK should go back to teaching high school!

C: MC shouldn’t hire unqualified professors like Professor XGK!

D: Professor XGK doesn’t care about her students!

E: None. They’re posted on Facebook, and everyone knows Facebook is a joke.

3: You take photos of a security guard on campus writing tickets for illegally parked cars. The security guard asks you to stop. Do you have to?

A: Yes.

B: Yes, if the guard is talking to the car’s owner.

C: No, so long I’m not getting in the guard’s way.

D: No.

4: Montgomery College is a public college. Sometimes people such as preachers and political activists come onto campus (sometimes with pamphlets, flyers and other printed materials) and talk to, lecture, harangue or otherwise communicate with students. College administrators can remove the preachers and activists,

A: whenever they want, for whatever reason they want.

B: if the materials they hand out make a mess.

C: if the person talking gets in the way of students trying to get to class.

D: if the person talking starts to say racially or ethnically insensitive things.

E: never.

5: When spring comes along and the weather gets nice, you’ll see people outside on the grounds of MC playing guitars and other instruments. Can MC stop the students from playing and singing?

A: Sure, it’s MC’s property; they can do what they want.

B: Yes, if the songs are about killing cops and having sex with animals (or similar nastiness).

C: Yes, if the singing is directly under an open window and is loud enough to disrupt class.

D: Yes, but only if they do it in writing.