Commentary

The First Amendment At Work

May 19, 2006

Last week the Muslim Student Union sponsored a week of events called "Holocaust in the Holy Land." Our campus received requests to cancel or condemn the program.

Many of you know from my previous statements that I believe it is vital that we remain firmly committed to upholding freedom of speech and open discourse. Our campus historically has promoted the free and unfettered exchange of ideas in a spirit of civility and respect.

The First Amendment prohibits the government, including public research universities, from "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble."

There is a tension in this ideal expression of free speech. Because the university is legally compelled to protect speech on a content neutral basis, inevitably the university must allow some speech that offends and hurts. There are times people want the government or the university to abridge offensive and hurtful speech. Public universities are frequently in the difficult position of saying "no" and allowing offensive and hurtful speech to occur. This, of course, is where our campus finds itself today.

This tension is precisely the result the drafters of the First Amendment envisioned. When James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights, he did not know how long our fledgling country would last or what travails it would experience in the future. He could not possibly have foreseen the historic and horrendous atrocity of the Holocaust or the repercussions it would engender for decades thereafter. But our founders gave us a constitution with which to address these difficult issues; they gave us the First Amendment.

And the First Amendment and its freedoms apply to every member of our society. That is why, to the requests that we cancel the Danish cartoons event hosted by the College Republicans in February, the University was compelled to say "no, we cannot abridge that speech," even though I knew that among those who chose to listen, some would find it offensive. And that is why, to the requests that we cancel the "Holocaust in the Holyland" Week, the University must say, "no we cannot abridge that speech," even though I knew that among those who chose to listen, some would find it offensive.

Instead, we say to every member of our campus and to the broader community: this is the First Amendment at work. This allows our democracy to flourish. This allows each of us to speak our mind. And this gives each of us the opportunity to demonstrate civility and respect, without which our university cannot achieve its mission of teaching, research and public service.

Manuel N. Gómez, Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor
Student Affairs