Panel Splits in AWARE Forum

Universities should use academic disciplinary measures as a means to inhibit racism, a University of Wisconsin law professor told a group of about 50 people yesterday afternoon at a panel discussion on the complexities of free speech in Boylston Hall.

"A prejudiced person is typically an authoritarian personality who likes to see differences and magnify them," said Richard Delgado, speaking at the final event of Actively Working Against Racism and Ethnocentrism (AWARE) Week. "These people are particularly amenable to rules."

At Wisconsin, Delgado helped draft part of an administrative code under which "demeaning" remarks directed toward individuals or members of a group can be punished with measures ranging from academic probation to expulsion.

"Give them anti-prejudice rules and they'll follow them," Delgado said."They're good soldiers."

But panelist Charles Baron, who heads the CivilLiberties Union of Massachusetts, said that theWisconsin code is unconstitutional because thedisciplinary action taken hinges on the content ofthe derogatory comment.

Baron said that the First Amendment wasdesigned to prohibit any sort ofgovernment--including a universityadministration--from restricting what people cansay.

"The environment of a campus has to be evenfreer with respect to speech than a streetcorner," Baron said. "We must remember thatuniversities provide golden opportunities fordealing with problems of racism or sexism."

"We must remember that the person who'sadministering these codes is not aphilosopher-king," Baron said. "I do want toprotect people from being hurt, but not at thecost of lying to ourselves."

And Sally Greenberg, civil rights director ofthe New England Anti-Defamation League, criticizedthe Wisconsin code as being "over broad."

But Delgado said that university guidelinesalready prohibit certain types of speech that areconsidered harmful to others. "We punishplagiarists and don't stage consciousness-raisingsessions on the evils of it," Delgado said.

But Baron argued that the most effective way torespond to offensive remarks is to speak outpublicly against them.

"The answer to speech that we hate is morespeech," Baron said