Friday, May 4, 1962
' Daily Nebraskan Election Edition
Page 5
The College Press And Its Freedom
(Editor Note: The faUowinf ar
ticle, written by John Harrison,
appeared in the Daily low mm.
Mr. Raniaoo, now a Joarnalism
instructor at Pennsylvania Stat
University, was publisher of The
Daily lowaa from 19S to 1961.
He formerly was an editorial writ
er on The Toledo Blade, and was
also a Niemaa Fellow ia ust.)
By John Harrison
A lot of hogwash has
been written about the
college press its place
in the educational scheme
of things, how much free
dom its editors should en
joy, the reasons why it
should be free at all.
To Invoke the provi
sions of the First Amend
ment on behalf of college
editors is to miss the
point A newspaper oper
ates on campus at the
behest of administrative
officials, just as do social
clubs and political groups.
Its rights and privileges
are defined and limited
by presidents, boards of
regents, trustees and
overseers whoever makes
and administers educa
tional policy.
This is true whether
the paper is in some de
gree an adjunct of the
university, or operates
outside the official family.
The most outspoken and
untrammeled campus
newspapers today have
little or no official status.
The Harvard Crimson and
the Michigan Daily are
prime examples. Tradi
tion confers on them an
independence that is re
latively rare, u? it -
Yet nothing prevents
President Pusey f rem
closing up the Crimson
shop tomorrow. He could
do it by any of several
acts within his rights as
Harvard's president. An
nnholy howl might go ftp
from many quarters. Bat
no constitutional provision
could help the boys in
Plympton Street one bit
should he decide to take
such action.
That he does not do so
is rather a mark of Pres
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ident Pusey's intelligence
and of his appreciation of
the purposes student-edited
and written newspa
pers serve in a complex
university than of his
acknowledgement that
Crimson editors possess
any constitutional right to
'say whatever comes to
mind.
College newspapers like
the Crimson, like the
Michigan Daily, the Cor
nell Daily Sun, and the
Penn State Collegian exist
precisely because the tra
dition of an independent
student daily exists on
these campuses. They are
sustained by administra
tive respect for these tra
ditions and the education
al values they represent.
The reasons why the
college press should be
free have nothing to do
with students' rights.
They are at the very
heart of the educational
process in a free society.
These will suggest them
selves immediately to the
educator who is genuinely
concerned that today's
college student develop a
free society. Its withering
away has been widely
deplored by critics of to
day's educational system
and the graduates it pro
duces. Outlets for the expres
sion of opinion by stu
dents are always needed.
The need is especially
great today when mount
ing enrollments tend to
isolate the student, to
make him feel he is more
-a cog ia a machine than
part of a continuing edu
cational process. Student
newspapers provide for
ums in which all kinds of
problems are discussed,
and not just by the rela
tive few who serve as
editors.
But such a forum func
tions properly only in an
atmosphere where the
ON CAMPUS
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free expression of ideas
including ideas that are
critical of the status quo,
unpopular ideas is en
couraged. Of course it re
quires forbearance to
grant freedom of expres
sion to students hardly
dry behind the ears, who
may use this privilege to
question the motives and
abilities of distinguished
scholars and educators.
Of course many demand
patience beyond the ordi
nary to concede that the
student critic however
wrong-headed he may be
should be permitted to
express his opinions.
But aren't patience and
forbearance in the face of
student error and abuse
essential qualities of edu
cators? Surely they are
if the teacher or adminis
trator accepts as one of
the basic tenets of a lib
eral education that the
developing mind must be
encouraged to test and
stretch itself, to put its
convictions and its criti
cal judgments into words
even when they may
be wrong.
Unfortunately, other
considerations come
ahead of education in the
minds of some college ad
ministrators today. They
have come to regard stu
dents almost as a nui
sance, who get in the way
of the perfectly function
ing administrative ma
chine. They are not so
concerned that students
still have an opportunity
to whet their critical fac
ulties as that students
shall rock the boat at all.
One can almost sym
pathize with the plaintive
declaration of one such
administrator, sorely tried
by what an outspoken stu
dent editor had written:
"Habitually I am called
upon to explain why the
University's attitude is
Nine Nominated to Biz. Council
The Business Administra
tion Executive Council will be
elected during the Student
Council elections, Monday.
The Council consists of two
members elected from each
class. -
Those nominated for the
Council are:
Jim Mesonbrink ...Soph.
Margaret Anderson ..Jr.
John Felton Jr.
Penney Purcell Jr.
Randall Sittler Jr.
Mike Miner Sr.
Stanley Navrude Sr.
Don Slaby Sr.
Linda Watson Sr.
One of the junior and senior
members must be a girL
During the school year the
Bus Ad Exec Council's major
activity is the sponsorship of
the Bus Ad Career Days.
VOTE
thus-and-so, when, as a
matter of fact, it is the
(student newspaper's) at
titude and not the Univer
sity's which I am called
upon to explain. I see no
reason why I or anyone
should be put to the trou
ble which this involves.
Indeed I see no reason
why educational funds . . .
would be expended to sub
sidize a project which
adds to our difficulties
and troubles."
Poor fellow! His is in
deed a thankless job. He
must watch out for his
university's relations with
a board of regents, a leg
islature, an alumni as
sociation, and a whole
state's population none
of which is likely to set
much store by the ideas
"those crazy college
kids" are prone to pro
pound. But in his con
cern with all these, he
has lost sight of his first
responsibility, which is
the education of the
young.
And the young are a
troublesome, feisty lot.
They will explore be crit
ical and altogether disre
spectful of their older and
so much wiser mentors.
The genuinely wise ed
ucator knows this, of
course. Not only does he
expect that young people
will be critical; he en
courages them to speak
their minds. He recog
nizes that this is an es
sential aspect of the edu
cational process. That is
why he leaves them free
to give tongue to heresy,
and yeasty student news
paper is important.
One hopes that students
who undertake to edit
and publish a newspaper
will assume a measure
of responsibility commen
surate with the freedom
granted them. And, with
an occasional exception,
college editors want noth
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ing so much as to be re
garded as reliable and
responsible.
Freedom provides a
stimulus to responsibility.
For once a student knows
he will get either credit
or blame for the job he
does as editor, he begins
to be concerned about his
own reputation. He seeks
advice before he acts,
where otherwise he would
wait for & higher authori
ty to correct his errors.
Ha begins to learn the
essential lesson that free
dom never really is
earned until the indivi
dual proves that he can
exercise it responsibly.
In this way, the college
press stimulates not just
the critical faculty in the
student, but also helps de
velop that more sophisti
cated faculty the re
sponsible exercise of free
dom which can be cul
tivated in no other way.
The notion that responsi
bility can be injected in
travenously and that,
enough of it having been
administered, freedom can
subsequently be substitut
ed in the syringe, is it
self irresponsible and de
structive. It is a favorite
refuge of authoritatirans.
Thus, the case for free
dom of the college press,
which is strong and per
suasive, too often is put
in its weakest terms. It
has nothing to do with
the protections the Con
stitution affords the press.
What is at stake is pro
tecting society whose
members are free to ex
amine and criticize all
institutions.
These freedoms will
survive only so long as
we make it a stated pol
icy of our educational
system to stimulate the
critical faculty, not sup
press it because it some
times may cause embarrassment.
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