COLUMN: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

From Arne Thommessen's "Here Me Now, Believe Me Later," Fall '93 From Arne Thommessen's "Here Me Now, Believe Me Later," Fall '93It is better to shut up and let people think you are stupid than to speak and remove all doubt. The same rule applies to the Undergraduate Assembly. From Arne Thommessen's "Here Me Now, Believe Me Later," Fall '93It is better to shut up and let people think you are stupid than to speak and remove all doubt. The same rule applies to the Undergraduate Assembly. The UA, a random group of people from obscure fringe groups, recently passed a resolution submitted by UA member Dan Schorr's First Amendment Task Force seeking to protect the right of free speech on campus. From Arne Thommessen's "Here Me Now, Believe Me Later," Fall '93It is better to shut up and let people think you are stupid than to speak and remove all doubt. The same rule applies to the Undergraduate Assembly. The UA, a random group of people from obscure fringe groups, recently passed a resolution submitted by UA member Dan Schorr's First Amendment Task Force seeking to protect the right of free speech on campus. Is this the same group of people which compiled a report in the end of April, in what they claimed was their "best efforts to represent all Penn students?" The report, responding to the theft of the DP's by "The Black Community," was as concerned with the rights of free speech as Genghis Khan. In their report, the UA "demands that the DP clarify their obligations," and suggests that the terms be printed in the agreements in the Policies and Procedures handbook for 1993-1994. I am glad the Underrated Assembly addresses this issue. But why stop with the DP? Surely there must be something murky with the Wharton Journal, or any other campus publication. I can't recall seeing this urgent issue addressed the last time I read the Policies and Procedures handbook from cover to cover. Of course, that was before the higher powers of the University answered the UA's prayers. After months in contemplating solitude, the special Judicial Inquiry Officer has descended from the Mountain of Sinai. He has not come empty handed. In his hands he carries what will be known as the eleventh commandment: "The confiscation of publications on campus is inconsistent with the ideals of the University." Any breach of this commandment will be seen as an opportunity for education. To make sure everybody appreciates the gravity of this policy it will be posted in residence halls and student lounges. It is about time. Nobody knew that confiscating nearly 14,000 newspapers was prohibited. The recently returned Professor Howard Arnold eloquently explains why: "Neither the leadership of the Black Student League nor the individual students knew or had reason to know of the University's Confiscation of Publications on Campus Policy since it was not published in the Policies and Procedures manual provided to students." I enrolled at Penn expecting to get a BS degree, but I had no idea it would end up as a BS in BS. But even with Arnold's sterling recommendations, the conflict between the DP and the UA has yet to be resolved. In what our student representatives apparently perceive as a grand gesture of reconciliation, the UA offers its humble services as a neutral intermediary between "the students" and the DP. With the DP involved, how does the UA imagine it will ever be taken into consideration as a neutral intermediator is difficult to comprehend, especially after publishing two pages of unsubstantiated insinuations. Our representatives suggest that the DP "promote an environment that is more conducive to the formation of a staff that is more reflective of the whole Penn community." In other words, the UA wants more African Americans to join the DP. Such a step would be welcome, but a journalist must not let the color of his skin cloud his judgment. Needless to say, the standards for journalistic integrity should be the same regardless of race. An African-American and a Jewish reporter covering the "water buffalo" case should both conceal their biases in their news coverage. The DP has never been a shrine of objectivity, though. If integrity had been their primary concern, then the DP would never have praised the horrid productions of the Penn Singers. The frequent reader of the Daily Pennsylvanian can hardly have avoided to notice a certain tone of distrust in the coverage of the UA. I can understand that the UA would welcome any opportunity to avenge the humiliating coverage in the DP. However, shooting oneself in the foot and subsequently chopping off the trigger finger is not the right remedy. In their report, the UA demands that the DP "act with more responsibility and integrity when choosing to use their limited printed space to cover certain issues over other in greater or lesser detail." What they really mean to say, in their cunning Orwellian way, is that Gregory Pavlik should never have been a columnist last semester. However, if there had been more printing space Pavlik could have expressed his opinions in greater or lesser detail. Preferably, I suspect in lesser detail. In order to satisfy their token First Amendment distribution requirement, the UA claims it "would in no way suggest that freedom of speech be limited, only that the DP live up to its claims of providing a forum for a diversity of opinions." Judging from the ambiguous contents of the report, that is what they have been suggesting all along. How does the UA distinguish between a diverse and a non-diverse opinion anyway? I suspect the more an opinion diverges from the opinion of the UA the less diverse it is, and vice versa. Is this the gallant support of free speech that the First Amendment Task Force professes to embody? I strongly suggest the honorable members of the Undergraduate Assembly do what they have been elected to do – represent students. At the rate they are going now, I would rather have Otis the Superman rapper represent my interests. The DP is one of the best student newspapers in the country and is the best source for campus news and debate. By failing to recognize this simple fact, the UA has become the laughingstock of Penn, again. Arne Thommessen is a senior Finance and Entrepreneurial Management major from Oslo, Norway. Hear Me Now, Believe Me Later will appear alternate Fridays.