Conference debates
free speech issues
By Rachel Miller
Ry ff* Oapoe Omty f moraki
"Freedom of speech means
that we must respect individu
als' viewpoints and messages."
said Robert O'Neil, author and
law professor at the University
of Virginia, during a live, inter
active tele* onference on Oct. 21
The "Can we live with the
First Amendment''" teleconfer
ence took place at the Instruc
tional Media Center and was
presented by State University of
New York at Albany and the
PBS Adult Learning Satellite
Service.
The conference was hroad< ast
simultaneously to college cam
puses across the nation, giving
viewers several opportunities to
call in or fax questions to the
panelists as they discussed
issues of student rights to free
speech and academic freedom.
Along with () Noil, trio pan
elists wore: Nat Hentoff. colum
nist for 77m Village Voice and
The Washington Post, and staff
writer for The New Yorker. Mar
ianne Merritt, associate at the
law firm of Hirschkop & Associ
ates; Orlando Patterson, profes
sor of sociology at Harvard Uni
versity; and Professor Isabel
Marcus.
In their opening comments,
all panelists expressed a desire
to see college campuses work
toward attaining a "non hostile
environment" that supports an
individual’s right to freedom of
expression.
"Marginal groups should not
be forced to feel silenced.” Mar
cus said.
And Merritt believes there is
currently a breakdown of civili
ty, respect and communication
on college campuses. But stie
said it is possible for the admin
istration and students to come
together to determine the bound
aries of free speech in order to
reduce the likelihood of stu
dents "unintentionally and
intentionally" offending each
other.
O'Neil pointed out that it is
difficult to distinguish between
hateful thought and thoughtful
hatred.
The panelist then debated the
actions of teachers and students
in three hypothetical cases
involving First Amendment
rights.
The first case dealt with a stu
dent's right to refuse reading
and discussing course material
he found personally offensive,
and the second case focused on
the right of a fraternity to dis
play tasteless posters under the
protection of the First Amend
ment.
The third scenario described
the conflict between a group of
Latino students and a student
newspaper, ending with the dis
gruntled students stealing all the
copies of the newspaper in
protest.
After the cases wore presented
the panelists gave their opinions
concerning professor, adminis
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[ration and student rights and
responsibilities in each case
Patterson raised the question
about protesting in a university
classroom setting versus the pub
lic streets. Me pointed out that the
essential right of a student to
express his or her views does not
include disrupting a let ture
If a person were waving a ban
ner in protest of a lecture, he or
she would lie removed from the
i lass. Patterson said Hut if this
same action were to oct ur out
side of the classroom setting, the
protester i mild not lie removed
O'Neil agreed that disrupting
a c lass should not be permitted
Because it is. "charged with
training immature minds, it is
the university's responsibility to
train students and professors to
give sensitivity to issues."
O'Neil said
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