Editorial

Free Speech Comes at a Price

While Emerald columnist Keith Cunningham ran his mouth off on censorship, the Emerald printed the responses--most of them were written to oppose Cunningham. Politics made interesting bedfellows on campus for a span of about two weeks, with Women's Center Director Edwina Welch, ASUO President Jen Williamson, members of the Commentator staff, Students for Choice Director Grace Smutz, Emerald editor David Thorn and the mystery writer behind the Emerald editorials all writing or speaking in favor of the right to free speech and press.

Keith Cunningham did have a few supporters, however. Joey Lyons, co-director of the Multicultural Center and ASUO "Co-President" Zach Kelton both championed the cause of Keith Cunningham's new Reich.

"Based on the Clark Document criterion, the Commentator has repeatedly interfered with the University's ability to carry out its educational mission and thus should be defunded immediately," Cunningham wrote in his Feb. 7 column in the Emerald. Cunningham continued, "The solution is to revoke any and all Commentator incidental fees and to remove the Commentator from its current EMU space."

The irony of his many columns condemning the Commentator's free and apparently questionable use of speech and press lays solely in the fact that the restrictions he would impose on the Commentator would have to be imposed on him. Free speech lets everyone have his or her say--even Keith Cunningham.

Zach Kelton, who simultaneously declared himself keeper of the ASUO budget and "Co-President" of the ASUO, concurred with Cunningham's accusations of hate speech and interference with the educational mission of the University. "Recognizing this history and the argument therein, I feel that there is only one truly fair way to gauge whether the Commentator should receive funding for next year--referring its budget request to the ballot for all students to vote on," Kelton wrote in his Feb. 13 column in the Emerald.

Kelton went on to give his own hypothesis about the outcome: "...further, I am confident that students' outrage at the magazine's content will result in dramatic editorial change or removal of the publication from the ASUO budget."

Again, in a dramatic display of the need for free speech, Kelton used his right to free speech for a column condemning it. It appeared to be a dark day for free speech on campus--part of a legacy of many dark days.

Ten years ago, the ASUO Executive tried to put the Commentator's budget on the ballot.

Seven years ago, the Commentator's funding was temporarily removed by the Incidental Fee Committee.

Two years ago, the IFC tried to defund the Student Insurgent.

The same year, the Black Student Union demanded sensitivity training for Emerald staffers because of the racist portrayal of three black men. All of them were charged with assault against a University of Oregon student--a woman.

On all four occasions, these decisions were denied. But the very fact that battle must be done every few years to protect free press on campus is a statement of the devaluation of the First Amendment among our peers. The conventional wisdom of the day is this: If you don't like what they say, silence them. This ideology stands in stark contrast from the days when the motto was: If you donšt like what they say, don't listen.

If you don't like campus publications, don't read them. If you feel "journalistically raped" when you pick up the Commentator, put it down and don't pick it up again. But by becoming outraged and calling for the defunding of a publication you feel has victimized you, all that is accomplished is lots of press for the publication in question. And, after all, only no press is bad press.

When all was said and done, the Commentator financially raped the Programs Finance Committee of an 8.4 percent increase. In the process, the ASUO, the PFC, women's groups and the Oregon Daily Emerald all fought for the principle of free speech, even as it applied to the Commentator. Next time, Keith, remember: Never pick a fight with people who buy their ink by the barrel.