Panelists debate nature of free speech at U.

A forum on freedom of speech and the future of the First Amendment at the University drew a capacity crowd of students eager to voice their opinions last night in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall. Sponsored by the Greek Social Action Committee, the panel discussion featured students, faculty and staff members concerned with the prevailing climate of political correctness on campus. College sophomore Thor Halvorssen, College sophomore and Managing Editor of The Red and Blue Christopher Robbins, and College junior and Undergraduate Assembly member Jessica Pollock represented the spectrum of student views on speech restrictions. Adjunct Assistant American Civilization Professor Frank Luntz and Director of the Greenfield Intercultural Center Joe Sun also participated in the debate, which was moderated by Legal Studies Professor and Assistant to the President Nicholas Constan. Constan began the program by offering each panelist an opportunity to define political correctness. He then asked audience members and panelists to address the question of whether "PC" can be used constructively. Working from a question about usage of the term "freshman," the evening's discussion centered on semantics, and how word choice can wound if it highlights differences in gender, race and ethnicity. This is especially true when members of groups are not described in terms of their own choosing -- for example, freshman versus freshperson versus first-year student. "It is the responsibility of the person who speaks as well as the person who hears to make the action or reaction to what is said," Sun said, emphasizing the importance of determining intent when deciding whether a remark is offensive. Halvorssen reacted strongly when audience members steered the conversation toward the issue of racial sensitivity. "You're going to overturn grammar, language, words because of the sensitivities of those [people] here and there who speak?" he asked the panelists. "Sensitivity is not a good thing when you're talking about the free exchange of ideas," Robbins added. Luntz brought another perspective to the debate when he raised the issue of professorial power over student speech and thought in the classroom. He told the more than 60 students in attendance that their University education is incomplete because of pressure on individual faculty members and students to conform to certain conventions of academic thought. "If you can pressure a professor out, you can pressure a president out," Halvorssen replied. "If you can ban a word, you can ban a book." Constan then asked the audience if limits should be imposed on professorial power. The general consensus, however, was that political correctness, as a movement restricting expression of ideas, cannot have a positive impact. Students also said that adding a University-specific code of conduct regulating speech to the existing state laws and federal guarantees is unnecessary. Instead, education about other cultures should be used to increase awareness and sensitivity. "If nothing else, let civility be our guide," Robbins said. Sun echoed Robbins' statement, adding that sanctioning hate speech is not "what [free speech] is all about." Some students, though, voiced concerns that only through free expression can controversial and divisive ideas be effectively understood and fought. Luntz ended the discussion on a cynical note when he explained that universities today are not about tolerance, since he believes they do not provide opportunities for open thought and expression. By the time students realize the extent of this restriction, he said, they run out of time to change their institutions. Constan advised the students in attendance to think about what they had heard and "dismiss as ridiculous no one's opinions." Students who were in the audience during the forum said they enjoyed it. "To me, the whole PC movement is not about rewriting the dictionary, nor about imposing restrictions, but about making people responsible for what they say," said College senior Stephanie Cuba.

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