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Tuesday, April 16,2002
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
It was a story that could have
been out of an episode of
“Boston Public.” In fact, it actu
ally did become one: A teacher, in
a communications class, is trying
to foster a discussion on hurtful
speech and uses the “n” word as
an example. He means no harm or
offense, yet an African American
student complains merely because
he was a white man using the “n”
word. The
teacher is fired
for his actions
after a promi
nent minister
threatens a
boycott of the
institution if
the teacher is
not fired.
The differ
ence here is
that in real life,
the teacher —
professor, ac
tually — went
to court. Ken
neth Hardy, a
former communications teacher at
Jefferson Community College of
Louisville, Ky., had this situation
unfold on him. His employers, the
college’s dean and president,
claimed that he did not have the
freedom to speak at will in the
classroom, since the classroom is a
workplace and employees can be
subject to speech restrictions on
the job. Fortunately, the Sixth Cir
cuit Court disagreed. Hardy was
legally in the right to make such
statements in his classroom as part
of an academic discussion. Last
month, the Supreme Court upheld
Hardy’s claims by refusing
to take Jefferson Community
College’s appeal.
It’s easy and proper to argue that
these words are inappropriate in
most settings— just not this one. It
wasn’t as if the teacher was a rav
ing racist who had accosted the
first African American student he
saw and shouted the word at him
or her. He didn’t scrawl it out of
malice on a locker or a house. He
didn’t intone it menacingly as he
burned a cross. What Hardy did,
instead, was to use the words to a
positive end: using the speech of
the racists to explain to his stu
dents just how die words hurt oth
ers, in the hopes of instilling in
them the reasons for not using racial
slurs. To then turn around and ac
cuse him of racism for the mere ut
terance of the words, even with no
racial animus attached but merely
because the professor was Cau
casian, is the height of absurdity.
The college’s actions explicitly
state what has become an unspo
ken reality on campuses, includ
ing here at the University. Free in
quiry and legitimate speech are
only allowed as long as they are
politically correct or will not sub
ject the school to any embarrass
ment. This is the feared “pall of or
thodoxy” that in many cases was
the impetus for preserving the free
speech of the classroom in
the courtroom.
Yet should there be a clamor to
fire these professors, no matter
how personally distressing and of
fensive their speech is? Of course
not. Even evil speech (and mark
my words, the “n” word is as evil
as speech comes) can be a spring
board to discussion in an academ
ic setting if used in a constructive
manner, as Hardy apparently was
trying to do. “It is the purpose of
the free speech clause ... to protect
the market in ideas ... to an audi
ence to whom the speaker seeks to
inform, edify or entertain,” as the
court put it in their ruling.
I am one who can claim an al
Steve Baggs Emerald
most unending hatred of the Nazis,
the Klan and others who would
seek to impose an artificial “supe
riority” over others through words
or violence. Their views deserve
no First Amendment protection
that we rightfully give to more con
structive speech. Yet, once we stop
legitimate discussions aimed at
trying to come to grips with the
mindset of those who would use
such words, then it is the begin
ning of the end of academic debate
as we know it.
E-mail columnist Pat Payne at
patpayne@dailyemerald.com. His opinions do
not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald.
Pledge shows students care
It’s about caring. The Graduation
Pledge of Social and Environ
mental Responsibility is not a
hippie fad coming from the “back
woods of Eugene.” It’s about caring.
The pledge is not a “political agen
da” or “misplaced environmental
ism” that “taints” the graduation
ceremony. It’s about caring.
The editorial board argues in its
April 9 editorial, “University
shouldn’t hop onto pledge band
wagon,” that the pledge of respon
sibility detracts from the gradua
tion ceremony and should only be
done “on their own time.” On the
contrary, to many students, the
pledge is what their graduation is
all about. And after 17 years of
school, from kindergarten to col
lege seniors, they have earned their
“own time” at graduation.
Even the editorial board mem
bers admit that the University al
lows the pledge as an option, but
they do not explain that the idea is
completely student-developed and
student-initiated. Thus, the Uni
versity has no more connection to
this form of expression than it does
to a peace sign plastered on a grad
cap or a lei around a neck. Personal
expressions at graduation are noth
ing new. At graduation, it’s custom
ary to show who we are and who
we want to be.
The pledge is an opportunity for
students to show others that they
will examine their future employ
ers’ relationship to our world and
the people that inhabit it. Pinning a
green ribbon on a graduation gown
Guest Commentary
Michael
Bendixen
is simply a symbol that shows
where a student’s values lie.
The pledge is a vow that reminds
a student to ponder how caring fits
into the job search. It does not de
fine how a student should critique
a job but leaves the choice open to
the student. The pledge just asks
the ribbon-wearer to consider envi
ronmental and social implications.
Because it is often frustrating to
find work that doesn’t exploit oth
ers, the pledge cards conveniently
list places where a student could
look for jobs. The pledge is an idea
that celebrates a student’s accom
plishments but also reminds diem
to look to the future and make
responsible decisions.
It’s not a political scheme, but
just a personal decision to care
about others and our world. In this
sense, the pledge is quintessential
ly what our education stands for.
It’s a chance where we can take all
we learned in school, from algebra
ic expressions to business manage
ment, and use it in a practical and
moral way—to help others.
We get a chance to step out of the
sphere of our selfish interests, ever
just for a moment, so we can im
prove our world and society even
by the slightest margin.
Those who wish to stop others
from the benign option of signing a
card and wearing a green ribbon or
graduation day need to hear Bob
Dylan’s cry, “Don’t stand in the
doorway. Don’t block up the hall,”
in his song, “The Times They Are
A-changin’.”
We should look to those wear
ing green ribbons as heroes for
caring, and we can pick up an ar
ticle of the April 9 Emerald to see
who’s in the way.
Michael Bendixen is a senior English
and environmentalstudies major.
Letter to the editor
Campus protesters take a break
Where have all the University of
Oregon student activists gone?
The theory of an Oregon daily
newspaper is activists have chosen
to hide under a rock, along with oth
er paranoid people, after the Sept.
11 attacks. Someone else suggested
all student energy was dissipated in
euphoria over football and
basketball success.
Can this be the campus where
student insistence got the Universi
ty to join the Worker Rights Consor
tium despite the administration's
greedy reluctance? If so, it’s time for
them to make more noise over the
cave-in of the State System of High
er Education when the University
begged it to make membership in
the WRC illegal with retroactive
state rules. None of us was there to
hear that secret discussion. But can
anyone doubt such a conspiracy?
Those shenanigans to get “Saint
Philip” to honor his stadium prom
ise are trifles compared to silence of
students about Israel's invasion of
Palestine. Horrors of dozens of Is
raeli children dying in suicide
bomb blasts and of hundreds of
Palestinian children dying at the
hands of Israeli invaders should
have students marching in the
streets. They should be demanding
that this nation deserves a leader
unwilling to play the psycho-patsy
role of George Bush to the psycho
pathic militarism of the Israeli
prime minister.
But it’s spring quarter—a time for
fun on campus, no matter the guilt
one eventually will feel for being a
quiet accomplice, instead of
the nation's conscience.
George Beres
Eugene
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