Prof tackles free speech debate

Political Science Professor Will Harris spoke about free speech Thursday night at the first Cafe Einstein event this semester. "People here," Harris said, "claim free speech is not a Constitutional right, but a natural law principle." Harris told the approximately 35 students at the Hillel-sponsored student-faculty forum that the "irreducible core" of the Constitution is the 14th Amendment, which grants citizens equal membership in the political community. "Any speech used to harm or to undermine the status of someone in the community is not compatible with the principle of free speech," he said. Harris noted similarities between Judaism and the U.S. Constitution, saying that both Americans and Jews "create the text and are created by it" and that "the U.S. Constitution is indebted to the Jewish tradition." Regarding the University's racial harassment policy on campus, Harris said the University is an agent of free speech and students and faculty alike are members, much like the relationship between a newspaper and reporters. Harris said the University's "principles are to enhance free speech with the harassment policy." "One of the principles of free expression is that there should be ideas about how to interpret free expression," he continued. Harris said he did not believe that what happened in the water buffalo incident "in any way enhanced free speech rights." Similarly, Harris noted that the seizure of copies of the Daily Pennsylvanian last semester "was also an act of expression," and "should have been acknowledged with punishment." Harris pinned much of the blame for what many consider a problematic harassment policy on the University judicial process, saying "there is too much institutional imbalance in the judicial process." He said that he would even consider declaring "a general amnesty" on all University cases until the judicial structure is remodeled.