College Committee Targets Free Speech

A newly formed student-administration committee will focus on issues of free speech on campus, according to co-founder Allen H. Erbsen '94, assistant director of the Civil Liberties Union at Harvard (CLUH).

The Advisory Committee on Free Expression in the College will consist of several administrators and students. Although the body's membership is not yet official, Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 said yesterday he plans to sit on the committee. Erbsen met with Jewett last spring to discuss forming the new committee.

Jewett said the body will address "practical" concerns about free speech in a residential community, rather than focus on "broad principles," which is the mandate of the already existing University-wide committee on free expression chaired by Professor of Government Michael Sandel.

The College committee, Erbsen said, "can focus on specific issues related to the College," and Jewett said he hopes the new committee will "anticipate problems before they become problems."

Erbsen said the University-wide committee on free expression has been "focusing on very broad issues relating to the University." The CLUH assistant director said he hopes that through the new committee, students will voice their concerns on freedom of expression to administrators. The committee also "gives the administration a chance to bounce ideas off students," he said.

Eric D. Miller '96, another organizer, said the committee plans to hold forums and to bring leaders of student political groups together for discussion of sensitive issues concerning freedom of speech.

"Our goal is to be pro-active and not simply to wait for when open dialogue breaks down," he said.

Erbsen said the committee aims to foster unconfined discussion concerning free speech among students.

"Freedom of expression is designed to accommodate a variety of perspectives and to bring them together in constructive dialogue," he said.

Miller said that on college campuses, restrictive atmospheres pose more free expression problems than official censorship.

"We want to create an atmosphere where it will be easy for people to express themselves freely," he said.

An informational meeting on the committee will be held Nov. 9. Miller said the committee is searching for interested student who "represent different ideological backgrounds."

"Hopefully, by working together [with administrators] more can be accomplished than [by] working separately," Erbsen said.