'Water Buffalo' debate unexpected at meeting

The first meeting of the Edmund Burke Society last night was highlighted by a debate over the University's racial harassment speech code. History Professor Alan Kors was concluding a lecture on free speech when two women who said they were involved in the "water buffalo" case arrived. The women, who did not give their names, challenged Kors' position on the issue and said he manipulated the situation for his own gain. Kors, who advised College sophomore Eden Jacobowitz during judicial proceedings last semester, categorically denied any personal motives and said he tried for seven weeks to go through proper University channels before taking the case public. The women came prepared with notes to argue with Kors about the water buffalo issue. They said that after Jacobowitz shouted out the window at them, they had tried to contact him several times before calling the police – a detail not contained in most media accounts of the incident. After an argument over the boundary between racial harassment and the freedom of speech, the women left the room, one saying that she had been "gagged" by the audience. Kors offered them an open forum for debate as they exited. "I hope that that one point in the evening didn't overshadow the larger aspect of freedom of speech," said Engineering senior Greg Pavlik, a founder of the Edmund Burke Society and Daily Pennsylvanian columnist who sparked controversy last semester with columns critical of affirmative action and what he said is preferential treatment of minorities. During his lecture, Kors explained that "freedom is something that cannot be selectively doled out." He also spoke about the revolutionary changes at universities during the 1960s. "The modern college should be run by the students and the professors," Kors said, reading from a leftist manifest in a 1965 New York Times article. "[The] administration would be maintenance, clerical and safety personnel." He then explained that right-wing Ayn Rand proposed the opposite scenario with the administration and trustees having more control. Kors noted that it was ironic that the two camps have apparently now switched sides. During his speech, Kors called on the administration to "let no one lose fundamental First Amendment rights by attending a major university." Kors also made a distinction between the classroom and residence halls, pointing out that undergraduate students are adults purchasing an education from the University. When those undergraduates are not in the classroom, he said, they are adults entitled to their freedoms.

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