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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 3, 1994)
EDITORIAL Limiting free speech in the interest of fun . -Setting what may turn out to bo a dangerous precedent, the Supreme Court nilod Tuesday that organizers of gov ernment-sponsored events, such as fairs and festivals, have the power to prevent certain groups from partici pating — if those groups are deemed "inappropriate" for that particular event. The case in question revolved around "The Great Pump kin Festival." a Halloween event in Frankfort. Ky., where festivals planners barred an anti-abortion group from par ticipating in 1990. Capitol Area Right to Life was said to lx) “too controversial" by planners, after its 1989 appear ance at the festival raised complaints from the commu nity. That year, booth workers handed out plastic fetus es to children. It is doubtful that the people of Frankfort had plastic fetuses in mind when they came up with the Idea of " The Great Pumpkin Festival.’’ Designed to help revitalize the city’s downtown, the festival is intended for fun and enter tainment something the abortion Issue hardly provokes. And in this particular case, there was no spot ial bias against the anti-abortion group, a pro-choice organization was also prevented from joining the festival. Therefore, it would bo fair to say that the tier ision to exclude these groups was not made for political reasons it was made because allowing them to join would not exactly be a recipe for fun. Hut it is difficult to determine whether the Supreme Court’s decision could bo abused in the future, espe cially by small, local governments, in their attempts to prevent unpopular or unpleasant voices from being heard. The court did not offer any guidelines for governments to turn to when deciding whether a particular group is "inappropriate." It appears that, at least for now. gov ernments will have to use their own discretion in deter mining who gets access to a public forum and who does not. And that is the dangerous prospect. Sure, in this case, nobody got hurt. Both sides of the issue were equally excluded. But who knows what the next case might be? A pump kin festival is just for fun, sure, so maybe controversial views might not bo welcome there. But what about the Eugene Celebration, for instance? Or the Lane County Fair? How fun-oriented does an event have to be in order for its organizers to exclude controversy? The free exchange of ideas, essential to a democracy, is not something to be lightly discarded in the interest of "fun,” If the Supreme Court ruling gives governments the authority to limit free speech — and equal access to a pub lic: forum has long been considered a component of free speech — then perhaps that decision should be re-exam ined. But if that doesn't happen, and it probably won't any time soon, then legislative action should be taken to give local governments some concrete guidelines about what types of groups can fairly be excluded. In any case, some kind of protection must bo there. Local governments must be prevented from abusing their newfound author ity. Oregon Daily Emerald P 0 90131*9 fUCfWt 0ftC00*9f«U The Oagprt D.Wy fmyaid »s put* shed d*#y Monday through F nday during the school yc*4< and Tuesday and Thursday during tha summer by the Oregon Da>»y Emerald PubifShung Co . Inc . at the University ot Oregon, {ugane. Oregon The lmt*Akf opera!m tfxJependentfy of the Un,-v«r*fty »*1h o’Ue* n! Sole 300 of the [ rt) Menxwiai Un*on and >» a men»t>e» o< the Assocutted Press The (iTHtrakl <s private property The untawful removal or use of paper* r* prosecutable b y law Menegma Editor Editorial Editor Graphic* Editor Freelance Editor Editor tn-Chlel: Jake Berg Clifiey Anderson Sport* Editor Oav-o Thorn Editorial Editor de« Pav.i* Photo Editor Ai»sna Rawm Supplement* Editor Night Editor Kay Soto Steve Mm* deb (VAhardt Mchaei Shadier Katy Soto Associate Editors t dwa/d KlopiensKen. SfUdanf Govr*nman&Act rv*f»e*. Rob* ..» Me' !: Oommursfy. HariMrl* Higher EdUrahorvAdrof/Kafrafipn News Staff to" Beitmeski W4*on Chan. Dave Chedyvwxiriu Amy Colombo. j»n Dans Mpg Dedorpn Amy CVvenpod Tasha E«Chent*h©f. Mai a F,«*da. MarVn Fish*. Sarah Henderson, Yin long l eong. Suianne Marta Menu* Me'and. T»»*ta Noer. Eirsabeth Reenstyerna. Robbie Roevov Kate Sabounn, tia SaJoco*. Scofl Simonson Stephan e S*$aoe, Susanne Shsflen*. Mcheie Thompson. Amy Van Tuyi. Oarwal West Genera* Manager Judy R**J Advertising Director Mark Watte* Production Manager M Ross Advertising ft.* .»••■ Dav* Sub--* Dutta N <» Mrw/rr.vfc Teresa Kaheu'-e Jett Mu* •./•• Jemmy Mav »• Mchaai M «h.e. K«**M*y W«fce« Classified Becky M*v ha- ? Ur.^e Victor Me. v S'” Tje Tecs Distribution John ti -j. f wek Rake* .* Graham Simpson Du sines* Kathy Cartxy'e Supervisor JudyCorv>o»y Production Dee McCdtJb. Product**' Gtxvdnaftv Shawna Abe*e. Greg Desmond Ter* Gauitney. Brad .■ iss, Jenn *er Roland. Naft Thangvtjrt. Clayton Yen Newsroom 346-5511 Display Advertising 346-3712 Business Office 346-5512 Classified Advertising 346-4343 2 Otv Daily Erm'ald Fnaav. Juno 3 t»l OPINION Like they say, ‘All good things Mvrtiv risiiKK Originally, I intended for tins column to bt: a response- to Kevin Horn buckle's silly commentary last week Hut I realized there's nothing 1 < ould say that Horn hut.kle or his supporters have the intellect to comprehend And besides, I couldn't expose his inane nature any better than ho did all by his lonesome instead. I thought I'd reflect hack on rn\ two years of filling the pages of the Emerald with whatever tripe suited me ut the moment, and may Is- share some parting observations. In the spring of 1992 I applied to lx- Emerald editorial editor. After having suffered through a year of frightfully shallow, wan dering editorials, 1 thought I could do better I believe I did Perhaps the highlight of that experience happened when the University announced it was going to spend $100,000 out of the traffic fund to build some nifty stone pillars to greet pass ing motorists at the intersection of 18th Avenue and University Street The editorial I wrote i un derlining the idea resulted in a phone call the next day from the administration saying they agreed with us and would not build the pillars Hut not every editorial went that smooth. When 1 criticized the poor manner in which Bill Clinton's visit to McArthur Court was organized, the Emer ald was attacked for not pulling the party line ! didn't fullv appret iate the expectation that the Emerald was expected to fol low the lockstep until we refused to endorse l.es AuCoin for the U S. Senate. We were told that it was our duty to endorse AuCoin because Clinton would need all the Democrats in Congress he could muster when elected. Others suggested we simply come clean and endorse George Hush for president situ e we were all obviouslv closet Republic ans (For the record, we endorsed no one for Senate because they were both dirt bugs, and we endorsed Clinton.) It was frightening to discover that free thought was frowned upon by those whose political aims were not served bv it. A high note came during the 1993 Oregon Newspaper Pub lishers Association Collegiate Press Convention in Portland, At the awards ceremony, win ning entries are displayed via overhead projector onto a largo si reen at the front of the room. Attending the convention as a guest panelist was OCA Fuhrtir Lon Mahon, who happened to be sitting in the front-center of the room 1 could only smile at Mabon as 1 walked up to receive my columnist award while, shining brightly behind me on a 20-foot screen, was my column with the glaring 35 point head line, "Don't Ignore Continuing OCA Threat.” The room was dark, hut not so dark i couldn't watch Mahon visibly squirm in his seat This last year, having graduat ed from journalism school and moved west to law school, 1 set tled for being a columnist for the Hint-mid and the Oregon Corn nu-ntator. The most fascinating thing 1 learned this past year is that, although the faces have i hanged, the problems and con flicts have not. This, above all, is probably the1 reason I'm giving up the columnist gig it was fun w hen it was new, hut tin* same old petty bickering over the same old petty problems has worn thin, and so has writing about them. I've been asked how I deal with people who respond nega tively to what I've written (e g tinrnbuc.kle) The easy (and more oft than not, right) answer is simply, ' Because 1 know I'm right " It's disheartening to have never received an intelligent, well thought-out rebuttal to any thing I've ever written, particu lariy considering this is suppos edly the state's elite university However, I'm constantly buoyed by the strong support 1 have received from various cor ners There have been many per sonal letters and phone calls of support from faculty, staff, administrators, as well as mem bers of the community at large and, of course, countless stu dents And although 1 wouldn't mind seeing some of those well wishes submitted for print once in a while. I am always grateful to the many people who have taken the time to say, “Thank you." There's nothing quite like being stopped on campus, or off campus, by someone who road my column and says, “Those were my thoughts exactly. It's about time someone had the courage to say that publicly." And to the one caller from Sacred Heart General Hospital who said, after I wrote a column blasting a group who blamed the entertainment industry for all of society’s ills, that if I wrote a book of columns like that one, he’d buy it — I'm working on it But, it's time to move on. Like 1 said at the start. 1 decided to work for the Emerald because 1 thought I could do better, and 1 did. Now. because of my annu al "write me in during the elec tion" column. I'm a member of the Student Senate — which 1 earlier trashed in the Commen tator. My wife can’t believe I'm stav ing on the Senate. “You called them a bunch of incompetent fools who are out of touch with reality," she said. "And now you're one of them." Ouch. But this is my chance to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. I've taken my shot at making a difference through the power of the pen: now it’s off to a more hands-on approach. It's easy to cofnplain; it's easy to offer solutions. It’s harder to actually carry out and imple ment your ideas. I’ve seen others try. and watched them fail mis erably. time and again. I know I can do better. Martin Fisher is IwasI a columnist for the Emerald
