Paul DeParrie set up his soapbox Tuesday in the Main Mall so he could, according to one student, “blackmail students into Christianity.”

But DeParrie just wanted to “get a few people stirred up, you know, some brethren stirred up to come down and do this on their own campus and do this on a regular basis,” said DeParrie – a goal he wasn’t able to attain.

“Fear God and Obey Him,” read the message painted in yellow, blocked letters across the front of a thin, red slab of plywood. On the other side of the sign: “Judgment is Coming.”
“I decided the best way to do it was to go out and confront people with their sin,” DeParrie said. “Their sins will bring them under judgment and bring them to condemnation in the end, to the pit of hell.”

DeParrie, a self-proclaimed preacher, orated under cover from the rain more than 50 feet from Mt. Hood Community College’s designated free-speech zone. ““You don’t provide any kind of covered place,” said DeParrie of the space in front of the Main Mall, a raised square at the height of the stairs leading to the west parking lots. “Where is the free-speech area? I thought it was the whole campus unless you were disrupting a class,” said DeParrie.
Brendan Watkins, an MHCC student, sided with DeParrie’s shouts of “hellfire” and “fear,” saying, “I think it’s great.” Watkins also questioned the school’s decision not to allow free speech everywhere on campus. “As far as I know, this is a public area and, according to the First Amendment, any public area is free game for free speech.”

Not true, according to MHCC policy. Under the MHCCD board’s mandate, speakers must first file a form, pay $30 – something Joe Fischer, associate vice president of student development and services, says is a deterrent against scam artists – and be approved to speak. According to Joe Fischer, MHCC confines free speech to one zone because people said they don’t want to be interrupted when they are at school trying to learn.

“It’s okay for you to be on campus and do free speech, but we have a specific area you need to be in and you need to fill out a Visitor/Vendor form,” said Fischer. He said that unlike schools that place limits on the content of a message, MHCC doesn’t censor content.
“Atheist or Christian, yes on 36 or no on 36… ethically we can’t censor [students] and protect the mission of the college,” said Fischer, “which is pursuing education first and foremost.”

Ian McDonald, an MHCC student, said, “I think there are better ways to share your faith with others, something that’s more genuine. I think telling people that God is going to punish you doesn’t seem really promising. I think telling people that Jesus loves them, that God loves them, is more of a promising message than that god is just going to send you to hell.”

“[Some people’s messages] may cause discomfort,” said Fischer, “but sometimes that’s when beliefs are challenged. To me what’s most important is that people can educate themselves.”

Some students – like friends Tiffany Phillips and Katy Henry – weren’t as happy or accepting of DeParrie’s exposition.

“I think it’s a bunch of b---s---. You can’t shove religion down someone’s throat,” said Phillips. “I was raised in a Christian home and I had religion shoved down my throat for most of my life. It’s free speech, but it’s b---s---.”

Against the backdrop of DeParrie’s sermon, Henry agreed. “I think it’s free speech, and I agree with that, but it’s kind of ridiculous. I bet you if someone came here with Satanist signs they’d be kicked the fuck out.”

After refusing to fill out paperwork to speak, DeParrie left at the direction of Fischer.
DeParrie said he’s had to challenge free speech zones or free-speech codes elsewhere. “But that’s why I just stood there and tried to keep myself as low-key as possible,” explained DeParrie, adding that he wasn’t trying to disrupt a class. “It’s not my intention to do that – it’s my intention to preach. However,” he said, “I do know how to take people to court, and I will.”

One onlooker, Claudiu Euha, a student at MHCC and family friend to DeParrie, held a camcorder and circled the pseudo-stage as the events leading to their voluntary exit inched closer. Euha said they’d encountered problems with free speech in the past in other areas where they’d preached fear. “Just in case somebody wants to tell us to leave,” he said, “we’ll be able to show we were actually doing it out here.”

Public Safety officer Cherilyn Nederhiser said that a couple of years ago a fight almost broke out on campus related to free speech. “We had a speaker out here and he was quite loud and vocal,” said Nederhiser, “and a couple of students disagreed with what he was saying and it almost became confrontational.”

Nederhiser believes the college should “encourage different points of view, an exchange of ideas in an open forum.” She said, “This is a learning environment, and I think this is what a college education is all about.

“The college has a policy that says not to disrupt the classes or working environment of the school.”Nederhiser explained, “The policy is simple – they don’t control the content of what they say, [speakers] just have to register and let us know who they are and then we know they’re in the open forum.” She said it’s the same kind of form you’ll need to have a table in the Main Mall during events like Rites of Spring or Welcome Week, held during the start of each school year.

“Well, it’s suppression of free speech,” DeParrie said as he walked off campus with Euha.