COLUMN: The Boerne Diversity Seminars

From Bertie Bregman's "On Call," Fall '93 When you think about speech codes, it helps to start from first principles: the speech of university students should be protected to the same degree as the common American citizen, yes or no? If you say "yes", then take one more step: because of its importance to academic inquiry, students deserve an extra dose of speech protection. If you agree with that, then the irony of restrictive speech codes at Penn and other schools becomes apparent: you have more freedom to express yourself in the street than you do on campus, when it should be the other way around. Those of us who have experienced it know that unfettered speech and fractious debate create a dynamic intellectual environment. When beliefs are freely aired, they get tested, fought over, praised and ridiculed. Speech without fear of punishment or censure creates a place where ideas have the power to move you across the emotional spectrum -- from horror to boredom to epiphany -- which is exactly the kind of place many of us want the university to be. Many of us want this, perhaps, but not all, judging from the past administration's disgraceful handling of water-buffalogate, Pavlikgate, and DP dumpstergate, and this administration's kid-glove treatment of the dumpstergate conspirators. Time and time again, University officials have instinctively responded to controversy by directly attempting to suppress speech, or by tacitly excusing this attempt by others.They frequently justify this on the grounds that one of the University's key missions is to act as a model to society for how a diverse, multicultural community can – as Rodney King put it – "all get along." Better to lose a little speech, the argument goes, than to foster an atmosphere of discord and minority group alienation. This is a misguided, but not uncommon, view. I have been a student at four universities so far, and at none of them did the administration value free speech over the threat to community peace that it seemed to pose. Luckily for all of us, our judges and lawmakers see further and think clearer than our university officials, but why should we have to wait until graduation to enjoy the full benefit of the First Amendment? Let's have it now. "Only the suppressed word is dangerous." The German author Ludwig Boerne wrote these words in 1881. In his honor, and to help foster a true free-speech community, I propose the Ludwig Boerne Diversity Seminars. These diversity seminars – different from the sensitivity sessions that are now in place -- will expose students to a parade of extremists, radicals, and bigots of all types. Nazis, KKKers, and Black Muslims will be invited to propound their respective views on racial supremacy. Environmental eco-terrorists will explain why AIDS is good because it only kills off humans, thereby bringing the ecosystem back into balance. Radical Feminist theorists can talk about how heterosexual sex is a colonization of the body and why intercourse equals rape; and religious fundamentalists can counter with arguments about the intrinsic inferiority of the female sex. We'll have Anarchists, Communists, laissez-faire Libertarians, and if things get too heated, we'll bring in a Lyndon LaRouche speaker to confuse everyone with a grab-bag of eclectic conspiracy theories. No view is too extreme as long as someone gets offended. The seminar will be graded pass/fail with the sole requirement of an cogently written essay on the speaker of your choice. Of course, opportunities for verbal battles will abound, although no physical violence, complaining to the administration, or shouting down speakers will be allowed. Bouncers will frisk students for projectiles at the door. This is no tired, "Hackneyed," Disney free-speechland, where anything goes as long as you leave with a smile. Free expression should not be calculated to please. It should provoke and unsettle. Discourse ruled by concerns of sensitivity is like intellectual Wonder Bread -- bland and non-nutritious. The Boerne seminar will leave students galvanized, appalled and stirred up. Hopefully, after openly challenging speakers and writing essays, a few will be more clear about their own views. And everyone will realize that while we have a lot of rights in a democracy, they don't include the right to not get your feelings hurt. Before dismissing this idea out of hand, think about it. Penn needs to make a bold move. The Kafkaesque Judicial Inquiry Committee, with its tactics of harassment and intimidation, made us a national laughingstock last year. This would make us famous for exploring the boundary of First Amendment freedoms. And what are we afraid of? That some students would be convinced by the speakers and become fringe elements themselves? Are their intellects that fragile? If so, we have three months to reprogram them before their parents find out at Christmas. One thing is sure: the Ludwig Boerne Seminars would be a popular program. Deep down, everyone likes a raucous, hearty debate, which these speakers would surely provoke. And there is something liberating about confronting people who represent ideas that you hate and fear -- seeing them in the flesh, sizing them up, and giving back as good as you get. After their initial distaste, people would leave feeling strong. Sensitivity to feelings is important, but in an academic institution, freedom of expression is more important. If the University is to be a multicultural model, then better a bloody intellectual battlefield than a place where sensibilities are safe because people are afraid to speak. Learning how to respond to hateful ideas with intelligent, forceful argument takes practice. If we are to rise to the challenge of a diverse, heterogenous community, then we need all the practice we can get. Call President Fagin today at 898-7221. Tell her to scrap the speech code and replace it with the Ludwig Boerne Diversity Seminars.Tell her to take provocative speech off the street corner and put it back on campus where it belongs. Bertie Bregman is a second-year Medical School student from New York, New York. On Call appears alternate Thursdays.