COLUMN: Loud and Clear

From Peter Morrison's, "Think For Yourself," Fall '95 From Peter Morrison's, "Think For Yourself," Fall '95Last fall, Rutgers University President Francis Lawrence made a controversial comment during a faculty meeting in Camden, N.J. which hasFrom Peter Morrison's, "Think For Yourself," Fall '95Last fall, Rutgers University President Francis Lawrence made a controversial comment during a faculty meeting in Camden, N.J. which hasspurred intense protest. This comment, which was recently made public, has sent Rutgers into a racial war that has divided the campus. And students, objecting to Lawrence's words, have embraced their rights to free speech and expression and have taken action. On Tuesday, during the Rutgers-University of Massachusetts men's basketball game, Rutgers sophomore Jacqueline Williams left the stands and sat down at center court in protest of Lawrence's remarks. Shortly after, she was joined by about 150 protesters who held a sit-in and forced the suspension of the basketball game. The student activism took off from there. About 40 student groups representing about 1,000 students have signed a petition demanding Lawrence's resignation. One day after the sit-in, more than 400 students held a rally during which they again called for the Rutgers' president's resignation. Many of the students walked out of classes to express their feelings. And last Friday, 220 students gathered outside a meeting of the Rutgers Board of Governors demanding that the Board remove the president. But to the dismay of many gathered, the Board decided to support Lawrence and stated that he would remain president of the school. This peaceful student activism has sent a message: Racism cannot be tolerated. The situation at Rutgers also illustrates why we must defend the right to free speech, especially controversial speech. The Rutgers community was able to expose this racist statement because Lawrence had the right to say those words in the first place. The comments were recognized, and then were combatted with more speech. A dialogue was started to address racism. And it is this dialogue that must remain the focus of the students' activism. These students have an excellent opportunity to use this incident to deeply examine the issue of race, not only at Rutgers, but in society. The students must debate and rally and talk. They must use this incident to educate the ignorant and challenge the bigoted, because only through dialogue and intellectual debate will these students have a profound impact. But, unfortunately, race issues, whether black, Hispanic, Asian, etc., are often emotionally charged. Those who have been disparaged are understandably livid. And these emotions, although natural and difficult to suppress, are what sometimes cause protesters to overlook the special opportunity with which they have been presented. Anger and callousness often limit what can be accomplished, and the message of harmony and brotherhood can easily be lost. Rutgers students must avoid falling into this trap. They must not let the anger that is often so difficult to control obscure their noble message. These students must continue to protest, but they also must try to listen and attempt to educate if they want their message to reach its widest audience. For instance, a student who yelled, "He's been a good slave master to his slaves for the last 35 years" while a black biology professor defended Lawrence only detracts from the protesters' efforts. The black student who grabbed and tore to pieces a sign that read, "He's not a racist/RU is #1 in black enrollment" from a white student also did not aid these efforts. The student group that threatens to use "alternative methods" to get a meeting with Lawrence also may want to step back and refocus on the goals of this protest. A much more hard-hitting and symbolic message was sent by John McCutchen, a black Cook College maintenance mechanic, at a public forum. When it was his turn to speak, he asked to approach Lawrence. "As a child of God, I forgive you," McCutchen said as he embraced Lawrence. McCutchen's gesture was an excellent reminder that we all must restrain and govern our anger in order to attack the true evil -- racism -- not just one individual who may have made a mistake. It is this type of dialogue that the students and anyone fighting racism must embrace. We must talk about our feelings and our prejudices. We must examine why they exist and where they come from. We must learn from our mistakes and fight racism with controlled, thought-provoking speech. I urge the students of Rutgers to continue to fight for what they believe in and to fight against racism, like we all must. But I also urge these students to channel their anger so that their righteous message will be heard clearly and will have a tremendous impact. And I urge University students to ponder this message as well, so that when the interrupted basketball game is completed at the Palestra on March 2, we can all intelligently examine what this basketball game has come to represent. Ironically, Lawrence's own words might say it best: "We must take this difficult time and transform it into a learning experience, one that will make the university stronger."