The First Amendment was being practiced at length at UW-Platteville Sept. 25. Bill Landerholm and George Smock preached their religious beliefs to students between the Pioneer Student Center and Boebel Hall.

“We’re here to preach and teach the Bible,” Smock, founder and president of Campus Ministry USA, said. “They [college students] need to know there is a judgment day coming and they will be judged by what’s in the Bible,” Smock said. He held a sign warning “fornicators, sodomites and drunkards” of hell.

Smock, who is not an ordained minister, has been touring college campuses around the United States for 33 years, and had visited UW-Madison, UW-River Falls, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Oshkosh within the last week.

Landerholm is not affiliated with Campus Ministry USA and is not an ordained minister. He is a technical writer and graphic illustrator living north of Rockford, Ill. He has been coming to UW-P for the last five years.

“I am not a minister,” Landerholm said. “I have no credentials other than those given by Jesus.”

People who speak on campus grounds are not required to obtain a permit from the university.

“We don’t restrict anyone from coming on to campus as long as that individual doesn’t disrupt ordinary university functions,” Rich Egley, dean of students, said. There are no limitations since UW campuses are funded by Wisconsin citizens through tax dollars.

“I look at college students as a garbage can; shiny on the outside and rottenness inside,” Landerholm said. “If the shoe fits, wear it.”

“How arrogant can a person be?” Egley said. “Someone who exacts that judgment on a group of people is not the most well-thought-out individual, they are capable of being.”
The messages of Landerholm and Smock were not well-received by some UW-P students.

“That’s horrible,” Jacob Cournoyer, a sophomore engineering physics major who heard Landerholm and Smock speak, said. “They can’t make that judgment and condemn people.”
Landerholm was also spit on by a female student.

In the event of speakers on campus, Egley suggests to ignore the person if students become offended.

“Respect the speaker’s right to freedom of speech and go about your business,” Egley said. “If you want to listen, fine. If not, go about your business.”

Cournoyer echoes Egley’s suggestion.

“From now on, I would actually try to ignore him,” Cournoyer said.