As many have
heard already, the University of Oregon is embroiled in controversy over
allowing the community organization, the Pacifica Forum to meet on its
campus.
For those
who haven’t been following the story, the Pacifica Forum is a discussion group
founded by a now retired U of O faculty member.While not a student organization, the Forum has been meeting
in the campus’s Erb Memorial Union since 1994 (like many campuses, the U of O opens
some of its facilities to community groups when they’re not needed for
university activities).In recent
years the forum has brought an increasing number of controversial speakers to
campus, including David Irving who was prosecuted in Austria for Holocaust
Denial.
A number
of students and student groups are now asking the University to bar the
Pacifica Forum from meeting on campus.Students have complained that the Forum’s presence makes them feel
unsafe and argue that the Forum created a climate that led to the recent
vandalism of the campus Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer Alliance.Opponents of the group also note that the
Southern Poverty Law Center lists the forum as a “hate group.”
Shortly
after a recent talk entitled “National Socialist Movement: An Insiders View of
the Radical Right”, where some members of the audience gave Seig Heil salutes,
some students at the U of O began demanding the group be barred from campus.
Of course
those found responsible for the vandalism should face the consequences, legal
and administrative.But trying to
bar Pacifica Forum from campus both forces the University of Oregon to make
some difficult choices and will ultimately diminish the opportunities for a
free exchange of ideas.
Unfortunately,
it seems like the calls for barring the Forum are gaining traction—even outside
the media.This weekend while
attending the Northwest Student Leadership Conference in Portland, Oregon we
were repeatedly asked if the University of Oregon can or should ban the increasingly controversial
community group, “The Pacifica Forum,” from meeting on their campus.
Public
institutions are allowed to place some reasonable restrictions on access to
their facilities in order to fulfill their educational mission.Naturally meetings necessary for the
functioning of the university such as classes, and departmental meetings, are
prioritized in scheduling.Most
will also prioritize using facilities for recognized student groups and faculty
gatherings over community groups.Many,
however, rightly allow the community some access to campus—after all, there’s
value to both the students and community in having the dialogue on campus spill
out into the rest of the community.And, once an institution does allow groups access to campus facilities, it
cannot bar a group just because it disagrees with their viewpoint.
Not only
does the University of Oregon allow community groups to rent meeting space on
campus, it allows retired faculty to reserve the space for free.Because former U of O Professor Orval
Etter founded Pacifica Forum they are exempted from reservation fees.
Now the
University of Oregon could change its rules and require retired faculty to pay
the same reservation fees as other community groups or bar all non-university
affiliated groups from campus.However, this would undoubtedly bar far more speech than both students
and the administration would like to.
Members
of the University community certainly have the right to vehemently and
vociferously express disagreement with the Pacifica Forum.It is in fact this vigorous give and
take of ideas that forms the foundation of higher education.But the First Amendment protects all
viewpoints no matter how unpopular.Learning to hear and respond to views that you disagree with is another
fundamental part of University experience.