By Peter Kranitz
Lewis & Clark has a free speech problem. As a largely liberal campus, most people assume that their peers hold the exact same opinion as they do. With an undergraduate population of over 2000 students and over 150 faculty members, this is, of course, highly unlikely. Yet many people with opinions that do not conform to the liberal stereotype feel like they cannot freely express their views. The Christina Hoff Sommers event on March 5 shows why: protesters made it abundantly clear that they do not think contrary opinions should be allowed on campus.
The free and open exchange of ideas is essential to a liberal arts education. If students at LC do not have the opportunity to think critically about and discuss complicated subjects, then the liberal arts education has failed.
As an institution, the Pioneer Log supports free speech in all capacities. We are committed to representing students and bringing attention to issues that are important to them. It is our responsibility to ensure that all voices are heard and that all stories are covered fairly and accurately regardless of their content.
As the Editor-in-Chief, I also support the faculty resolution for free speech. It is heartening to see faculty members in favor of tolerating differing opinions and active debate on campus. We ought to be receiving an education, not an indoctrination. Hopefully this resolution will lead to greater tolerance and more intellectually motivated criticism of ideas from both sides of debates and all views in between.
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Bravo!
Regrettably, LC’s reputation has been seriously tarnished. Even if administration takes strong steps to improve freedom of speech on campus, the damage will take many years to undo.