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Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, February 21, 2005
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■ In my opinion
Uninvited Irony
What would Wayne Morse, were the
former Oregon law school dean with us
today, say about Professor Ward
Churchill being denied the opportunity
to speak at the University has he had
been promised? It would be consistent
with the angry, outspoken way Morse
responded to so many other things dur
ing the mid-20th Century when he was
known as the gadfly of American poli
tics. How — he'd ask with indignation
— could the center under his name at
the University Law School justify turn
ing away an invited speaker, depriving
him of something always vital to
Morse: freedom of expression?
At question is the decision by the
Wayne Morse Center for Law and Poli
tics to un-invite University of Colorado
Professor Ward Churchill, who was to
share with his wife, Colorado Professor
Natsu Taylor Saito, a luncheon address
at a conference co-sponsored by the
Center. The March 31 to April 1 event,
also sponsored by the University Cen
ter on Diversity and Community, is
called “Homeland Tn’Security: Race,
Immigration and Labor in Post-9/11
North America.”
Churchill, an Ethnic Studies profes
sor with Native American identity, be
came the center of national controver
sy after an essay surfaced in which he
describes some victims in the World
TVade Center as “technocrats” and
“little Adolph Eichmans.” At issue is
Churchill's written statement: “On the
morning of 9/11, a few more chickens
— along with some half-million dead
Iraqi children — came home to roost
in a big way at the Twin Towers of
New York's World TYade Center.”
Churchill said he does not defend the
Sept. 11 attacks, but pointed out: “If
U.S. foreign policy results in massive
death and destruction abroad, we
cannot feign innocence when some of
that destruction is returned.”
The University’s decision to remove
him from the Morse program followed
action by Hamilton College to cancel
his appearance there. Other reac
tionary institutions have also denied
him a forum. However, Morse would
have been encouraged to know one
school that welcomes Churchill to
speak is in Morse's home state: the
University of Wisconsin.
Ironically, Churchill was un-invited
to the University exactly a month to the
day before the scheduled reopening of
the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza at
the Lane County building in downtown
Eugene. On March 15, the remodeled
plaza will be opened with the unveiling
of a life-size statue of Morse, Oregon's
most famous senator. As a member of
the Morse Corporation Board, I've seen
the statue; it has the senator gesturing
vigorously with a forefinger.
From what I know of the man, today
he would be pointing that finger direct
ly at the center that bears his name.
Many were the times when citizens —
including those in Morse’s home state
— did not want to hear what he had to
say. But he had the courage to say it.
Over and over again he was proved
right, no matter how unpopular his
stand at the outset — for example, his
early opposition to the war in Vietnam,
as one of only two U.S. senators to vote
against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
that illegally expanded the war.
Valid or not, Churchill’s essay stirred
anger among closed-minded people
like those who once could not abide by
Morse’s statements that went counter
to government policy. Morse might
have used different words, but his will
ingness to speak the unpopular when
it needed to be heard would have re
sulted in his saying the same thing.
Even if he disagreed with Churchill,
Morse still would have insisted on his
right to express his views. If Professor
Churchill ever makes it to Eugene,
there's at least one venue where he
could freely speak: the Wayne Morse
Free Speech Plaza.
George Beres lives in Eugene
INBOX
University falls prey to
corporate media control
The cancellation of Professor Ward
Churchill from the Wayne Morse Law
Center conference demonstrates the
University’s commitment to allow
corporate media to control and direct
its decisions. Aside from freedom of
speech issues, Professor Churchill’s
essay was written over three years
ago. He has given numerous talks
over the last three years, including in
Eugene in 2003. Professor Churchill is
not alone in his thinking; there have
been numerous critical essays written
in immediate response to the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
We live in perilous times and things
only become more perilous with the
loss of courage. Professor Churchill’s
ideas may be interpreted as incendiary
and provocative, yet he deserves to be
heard. The cancellation of Professor
Churchill highlights for us that the Uni
versity have lost intellectual courage.
Turning away from controversy and ar
gument does not bode well as we battle
the affronts of fascism as demonstrated
by the passage of the USA PATRIOT
Act. We feel that one of the University’s
roles is to hold the line against these at
tempts at intimidation.
Robin Irish
Timothy Jones
Eugene
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■ Editorial
'Land of the
free' outlaws
checks and
balances
“For all the mistakes that we journalists make
at times, try running a functioning democracy
without us.”
This is the battle cry from Judith Miller, a vet
eran reporter for The New York Times, shortly
after a ruling by a three-judge panel of the feder
al appeals court in Washington, D.C., last week
that she and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine
should be jailed for contempt of court for not
disclosing their sources. And what a true battle
for First Amendment rights this landmark case
has become.
In July 2003, syndicated columnist Robert
Novak wrote that senior Bush administration
officials tipped him off about a possible case
of nepotistic interests by Joseph Wilson, a for
mer ambassador to Iraq, in an opinion article
Wilson wrote in the Times that criticized
President Bush about comments he made on
Africa weapons trade with Iraq. In this, No
vak disclosed that Wilson’s wife, Valerie
Plame, was a CIA operative specializing in
weapons of mass destruction.
This fall, Miller, who did some reporting on
the issue but did not write an article, and Coop
er, who helped write a Time magazine online ar
ticle questioning the reasons behind the disclo
sure of Plame’s identity, were held in contempt
of court for refusing to disclose their sources.
Miller and Cooper are now seeking a full ap
peals court, and if that fails, will make a request
that the U.S. Supreme Court hear the case.
Novak is still writing columns for the
Chicago Sun-Times, and said on CNN’s
“Crossfire” in October 2003, "Nobody in the
Bush administration called me to leak this.
There is no great crime here. ” He claimed that
calls were made to a half-dozen reporters by
White House officials, but that he was the
only one who published the information. In a
column published at the time those com
ments were made, Novak said Plame’s
identity wasn’t much of a secret anyway.
Miller and Cooper plan to fight the panel’s
ruling as far as they can, and we commend
them on this. Echoing what Norman Pearlstine,
editor in chief of Time Inc., told The New York
Times last week, we feel it is of critical impor
tance to protect confidential sources. A lack of
confidentiality between reporter and source un
dermines attempts for whistle blowers to speak
out against an institution or organization, and it
ultimately destroys the judgment process
behind what should and should not be printed.
Miller and Cooper both expressed disap
pointment about the ruling, and last week,
Miller showed particular concern for the
power of free speech.
“A case like mine is a warning to people not to
talk because the government will come after
you, and that’s what we’re fighting,” she told
The New York Times.
It is a sad day for journalists and activists and
whoever else considers free speech a corner
stone in the U.S. Constitution when our courts
rule against the power of news organizations to
maintain relationships with their sources. The
minute we give any entity the power to compro
mise those relationships we say goodbye to the
sanctity of the First Amendment and any true
form of checks and balances in this country.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
David Jagemauth
Commentary Editor
Steven R. Neuman
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