Campus Conservatives Obtain Reprieve from Gonzaga Univ.
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
December 3, 2003
(AgapePress) - A Jesuit university in Washington state has revoked its punishment of conservative students on "hate speech" charges.Members of the College Republicans at Gonzaga University had posted pre-approved flyers advertising an upcoming speech by Dan Flynn, author of the book Why the Left Hates America. Because the flyers contained the word "hate," the College Republicans were disciplined by the school on the grounds that they were using "discriminatory hate speech."
However, after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) told Gonzaga president Robert Spitzer in a letter (PDF) that the school was perverting the meaning of free speech, he rescinded the punishment of the College Republicans. In that October 20 letter, FIRE stated its belief that excessive restrictions on the use of certain words, under any circumstances, are "reminiscent of the most primitive and misguided forms of censorship in our history."
FIRE executive director Erich Wasserman summarizes the intent of the letter. "We simply said that this was a perversion of the word 'hate' and eventually chilled his campus for open expression and debate, which is something that Gonzaga promises all incoming students and faculty," he says.
According to Wasserman, the Gonzaga incident is yet another example of conservative students being victimized by "ideological zealots" begs the question: How do you address such horrors as hatred in our society if you can't even mention the word "hate"?
"That really just makes no sense," he says, "[but] fortunately, reason prevailed in this case. Father Spitzer directed his university administration to rescind the charges -- and he upheld his duty to academic freedom and freedom of speech on his campus."
Greg Lukianoff, FIRE's director of legal and public advocacy, adds that it is "a dark day when universities in a free society start banning everyday words. In this context, it is especially bizarre. You can't very well eradicate 'hate' -- as some administrators claim they are determined to do -- if you can't even utter the word."
Lukianoff expressed his pleasure at Spitzer's quick response to undo a "bizarre miscarriage of justice."
