Campus leaders debate when free speech is acceptable

A diverse group of campus political activists gathered in the Lewis Hall lounge last night to discuss the nuances of free speech on private college campuses.

Resident Assistant and senior Emily Rhodes brought representatives from the Tufts Democrats, Tufts Republicans, the Womens' Union at Tufts (WUT), and the Tufts Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to discuss recent events that have affected free speech at the University.

Administrators Yolanda King of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) and Assistant Dean of Students Marisel Perez declined invitations to participate.

Rhodes was prompted to discuss free speech after she found herself refusing to put up a poster in the dorm which she found personally offensive. "I realized it was censorship and I really shouldn't have done it," she said.

The discussion began with each panelist presenting his or her viewpoint to the handful of students who attended. As the evening progressed, however, the panelists began to discuss issues with each other and the audience grew.

"[During university], it's a unique situation because you have all these disparate groups confined to this hill," Tufts Democrats President Adam Blickstein said. Outside of a university setting, "these groups don't interact on a daily basis like we do at Tufts."

Blickstein said that everyone at Tufts "is able to speak their mind. It's not hard to find an outlet."

Tufts Republicans President Philipp Tsipman said that though speech at Tufts was "generally free," he is "not too happy" about what he perceives as a lack of free speech for religious students and the administration's reaction to the chalkings that promoted the recent production of "The Vagina Monologues," which he considered "the administration sponsoring pornographic and sexually explicit things."

Tufts ACLU co-President Dan Grant said that free speech that is not hurtful should always be protected. "Though somebody might find [the chalkings] indecent, it's not offensive or threatening anyone."

Tufts' WUT President and former Tufts Republicans President Rachel Hoff said that she'd like to see more clarification on the University's policy for postering and chalking. "When they erased the chalkings in front of Tisch, they should have clarified: 'These are our chalking policies.'"

Hoff said that such events as the Sex on the Hill fair at the Mayer Campus Center and the sale of sex toys in the Houston Hall common room were offensive because she considers these areas to be public places.

"It does affect me," Hoff said. "When I walk into the campus center and see gratuitous pornographic representations of the human body, it's degrading sex."

Blickstein said that the University should take a hands-off approach to postering, chalking, and public display of "questionable" material.

Tsipman argued that the University must adopt a "basic standard of decency," which he defined as a ban on sexually explicit and racist material.

"Can we have a standard where there is free speech for everybody, but there are some things that everybody agrees are unacceptable?" he asked.

One issue upon which all the panelists agreed was opposition to hate crimes, which they considered outside the realm of free speech.

"It's the grey area where 90 percent of the collisions [of ideas] occur," Blickstein said.