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
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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