CLIPPING: University group defends academic freddom and free speech

Censorship on the Island

National Post

Thursday, February 16, 2006

What follows is an open letter, dated Feb. 13, from the Canadian
Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship to Dr. Wade MacLauchlan,
president of the University of Prince Edward Island.

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Dear President MacLauchlan:

I am writing to you as president of the Society for Academic Freedom
and Scholarship. We are a national organization of university faculty
members and interested others who are dedicated to the defence of
academic freedom and reasoned debate. For further information, please
visit our website at www.safs.ca.

We are writing to strongly protest the actions of the University of
Prince Edward Island administration in seizing copies of the student
newspaper, The Cadre (issue dated Feb. 8), and preventing their
distribution. UPEI's public statement of Feb. 8 that censorship of
The Cadre can be justified "on grounds that publication of the
caricatures represents a reckless invitation to public disorder and
humiliation" is contrary to the duty of all university presidents to
maintain their campuses as places where debate of controversial
issues may take place. Fear of possible "mob action" must not be
allowed to dictate to UPEI or any other Canadian university what
ideas its students and faculty may express, disseminate and debate.
By censoring this debate at your campus rather than taking the
necessary steps to provide appropriate security to allow debate to
happen, you have encouraged the view that the threat of violence,
real or imagined, is an effective way to challenge ideas with which
one disagrees.

The decision as to what is to be included in a newspaper must be made
by the editorial board, based on their understanding of the
newsworthiness of the story. Those who disagree with the newspaper's
coverage or viewpoint can register their opposition by writing
letters to the editor, demonstrating or simply by refusing to read
the paper or to advertise in it. Disagreeable speech should be
countered by opposing arguments. Censorship is not an acceptable
response to the expression of contrary opinions, and especially not
on a university campus. Sending the campus police to confiscate
copies of the student newspaper is an overreaction and a victory for
potential censors who seem to have intimidated the administration of
UPEI.

UPEI has given the impression that vigorous debate is to be avoided
whenever offence may be taken, or at the very least that such debate
is to occur only on terms decided by the university administration.
Surely, this is not the image of UPEI that you want to promote.

We call on you to reverse your decision and to let The Cadre do its
job.

Sincerely,

Clive Seligman, president, Society for Academic Freedom and
Scholarship, www.safs.ca

© National Post 2006

Copyright © 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest
MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

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